Historical Romance Novel Through the Fire Relaunched!

I've labored to revise this novel, adding more descriptive detail and Shawnee dialogue cut from the original version.  A special thanks to Jim Great Elk Waters, Pipecarrier, retired Shawnee Chief and linguist, author, artist, and philosopher, for his help with the Shawnee language.

This is the expanded director's cut of Through the Fire, for those of you who want to be more fully emerged in the colonial American frontier and an adventure romance with a The Last of the Mohican's flavor. This primal, essential time period has always had a huge draw on me and is the setting for many of my books, including: The Bearwalker's Daughter, Red Bird's Song, Kira, Daughter of the Moon, A Warrior for Christmas (now in audio), and my short story, The Lady and the Warrior.

The history my stories draw from is raw and real, a passionate era where only the strong survive.  We think we've gained much in our modern era, and so we have.  But we've also lost.  In my writing, I try to recapture what should not be forgotten.  Hearken back.  Remember those who've gone before you.

“Through the Fire is full of interesting characters, beautifully described scenery, and vivid action sequences. It is a must read for any fan of historical romance.”

~Poinsettia, for Long and Short Reviews

Story Description:

Will love inflame these two natural-born enemies in fiery destruction?

Passions run deep in the raging battle to possess a continent, its wealth and furs. Both the French and English count powerful Indian tribes as their allies. English lady Rebecca Elliot, having eloped to America with a British captain, finds herself a widow. When she ventures into the colonial frontier with the militia to seek her uncle, she unwittingly enters a dangerous world of rugged mountains, wild animals, and even wilder men. The rules are different here and she doesn't know them, especially those of the savagely handsome warrior who captures her body and her heart.

Half-Shawnee, half-French warrior Shoka, former guide for English traders, is the hawk, swift, sure, and silent as the moon. He knows all about survival in this untamed land and how deadly distraction can be. His intent is to sell Rebecca to the French before she draws him under her spell, but if he lets her go he can no longer protect her. If he holds onto her, can he safeguard his heart? With battle looming and an enemy warrior bent on vengeance, Shoka and Rebecca must decide whether to fight together or be destroyed.

The French and Indian War, A Shawnee Warrior, An English Lady, Blood Vengeance, Deadly Pursuit, Primal, Powerful, Passionate...Through the Fire.

Excerpt:

For a moment, he simply looked at her. What lay behind those penetrating eyes?

He held out the cup. “Drink this.”

Did he mean to help her? She’d heard hideous stories of warriors’ brutality, but also occasionally of their mercy. She tried to sit, moaning at the effect this movement had on her aching body. She sank back down.

He slid a corded arm beneath her shoulders and gently raised her head. “Now try.”

Encouraged by his aid, she sipped from the wooden vessel, grimacing at the bitterness. The vile taste permeated her mouth. Weren’t deadly herbs acrid? Was he feigning assistance to trick her into downing a fatal brew?

She eyed him accusingly. “’Tis poison.”

He arched one black brow. “No. It’s good medicine. Will make your pain less.”

Unconvinced, she clamped her mouth together. She couldn’t prevent him from forcing it down her throat, but she refused to participate in her own demise.

“I will drink. See?” Raising the cup, he took a swallow.

She parted her lips just wide enough to argue. “It may take more than a mouthful to kill.”

His narrowing eyes regarded her in disbelief. “You dare much.”

Though she knew he felt her tremble, she met his piercing gaze. If he were testing her, she wouldn’t waver.

His sharp expression softened. “Yet, you have courage.”~

The long awaited sequel to Through the Fire is out now, Kira, Daughter of the Moon. Set among the superstitious Scots in the rugged Alleghenies, Kira, Daughter of the Moon is an adventurous romance with a blend of Celtic and Native American flavors.

***Through the Fire is in kindle at Amazon for the introductory price of .99

***Link to my Amazon Author Page

My Barnes & Noble Author Page

***Through the Fire Cover by my daughter Elise Trissel. 

Cover for Kira, Daughter of the Moon by Rae Monet

Awards for Through the Fire: 2008 Golden Heart® Finalist

In the top ten Publisher's Weekly BHB Reader's Choice Best Books of 2009 

Snippet from Historical-Paranormal Romance Novel The Bearwalker's Daughter

Autumn, 1784, the Allegheny Mountains of Western Virginia

Instinctively, Karin reached out to trace the glowing stone, warmer now. A blue-green light radiated from it at her touch. She sucked in her breath. Tearing her eyes from the phenomenal gem, she looked at Jack. “Did you see that?”

Giving a nod, he slowly lowered his fingers to the iridescent surface—pulling back as if repelled. “It doesn’t want me to handle it.”

“What do you mean, it doesn’t want? ’Tis a necklace, for God’s sake,” she said, using stronger language than usual at the nameless fear that sprang up inside her.

She looked back down and cautiously extended her hand to the pool of light encompassing the gem. A shape flickered across it in the form of something—an animal. She jerked. “What was that?”

“A bear.” He spoke with the tenor of one trying to conceal his own disbelief. “We must’ve imagined it.”

“Both of us? Jack, what’s going on?”

He shifted his eyes around the room then returned to the necklace. “I’m not sure yet.”

“Maybe not, but you’re keeping something from me. Is this some sort of bear stone?”

“No. Moonstone. Rare, and known for its magical powers, if you believe that nonsense.” He didn’t sound as skeptical as he might have only moments ago. “The stone is also a lover’s amulet and the eye of seers. Wearing it is said to strengthen intuition.”

“If by intuition, you mean the hair standing up on the nape of my neck, I can tell something mighty peculiar is going on and—”

She broke off at a persistent sound carrying above the wind. “Do you hear that scratching noise?”

“Probably just a tree branch.”

He’d lied to shield her from something, she just knew, and clutched his sleeve with one hand. The necklace hung from her other. “Jack—”

He swiveled his head at the room again. “Calm down,” he said, but didn’t seem any easier than she.

The scratching intensified and came nearer to them. She gripped him harder. “’Tis at the door!”~

***The Bearwalker’s Daughter is available in Amazon Kindle for .99!

Anyone Up For Buried Treasure?

To quote Shakespeare, ‘All that glitters Is not gold,’ but SOME of it is.  The lure of buried treasure, an occasional flight of fancy for some and a soul-selling obsession for others, is an ageless fascination.  No soul bartering here, but I’ve done some research for would be treasure hunters and discovered  there are many yet undiscovered troves in America.  Apparently in every state according to the book Buried Treasures You Can Find by Robert F. Marx.  An interesting and informative read, however the font size decreases to minuscule proportions when Mr. Marx reaches the part of the book where he actually lists possible sites, so don’t expect me to recap without a magnifying glass.  Instead I’ll touch on some of his general  guidelines.  I, for one, would be happy to discover even a single gold doubloon , but it would have to wash ashore.  I’m not scuba diving.

Author Robert Marx has been treasure-seeking ever since he quit his newspaper route as a youth and has recovered an astonishing array of lost, hidden, or mislaid treasure both on land and plucked from the depths of the sea. First of all, he says you need a good metal detector and devotes pages to weighing the merits of various kinds.  Agreed, a premier detector would be fun to have, and considering I live in historic Virginia, I might actually find a Civil War button or something from the past which would thrill me.  Bear in mind that I’m easily delighted.  I once unearthed what I thought were shards of old pottery while planting a peach tree that turned out to be the remnants of an antiquated septic system.  Not very exciting.  However, my determination to dig the hole deeper in search of my imagined find got the tree planted in a hurry.  The most I’ve ever unearthed on our farm are old medicine bottles, but I’m fond of old bottles and have a kitchen windowsill filled with them.

The next step Mr. Marx advises after you’ve conducted a thorough study of metal detectors (I haven’t) and made your purchase is to learn how to use it properly and practice, practice.  Yada, yada,  we’re up to page 63 now–this book is for serious seekers–when he describes some of the most famous still to be discovered caches, also discussing WHY people bury treasure.  I assumed because they didn’t want thieves to find it, but there’s more.  In Colonial America banks were rare and often unavailable so most people buried money on their property.  Indians might suddenly attack  or the British were coming, so they prepared for calamities, possibly dying before recovering their money.

During the Civil War people in the South buried their treasures not only to keep them out of enemy hands but to avoid having to donate to the Confederate Treasury for the war effort.  As before, the ‘safest bank’ was a hole in the ground or some other secret location.  Some of the largest undiscovered treasures occurred during the Civil War: Excerpted from the book Civil War Gold & Other Lost Treasures by W. Craig Gaines. ”The really big lost treasure is that of the Confederate Treasury in custody of Jeff Davis upon leaving Richmond, fleeing the Yankee hordes. Portions of it are believed to be in Greene & Morgan Counties of Georgia. The combined hoard is believed to be between $500,000 and $600,000 in gold, the combined values of the Richmond Bank & Confederate Treasury. Most made it to Washington, Georgia, but an untold amount remains unaccounted for.”

On the Western frontier, there were many cutthroats who preyed on hapless pioneers, and Lord knows those gold prospectors were justifiably paranoid.  So they kept their big strikes secret, some taking that knowledge with them to the grave.  And there were the gamblers, soldiers, saloon keepers…who hid their earnings.  Not to mention the stage-coach robbers who hid their  loot while escaping from the posse,  thinking to return for it later. But they didn’t all.   Get the picture?  Untold treasure is still out there–somewhere.

If you’re seeking a specific cache, and there are some famous ones, Mr. Marx says to first be certain it truly exists and isn’t the stuff of legend.  Would you believe some disreputable people will  try to sell you treasure maps that aren’t actually genuine.  *Shakes head.

Mr. Marx suggests seeking documentation recorded as closely to the time of the original event as possible and that old newspapers and books are a valuable resource.  If you’re just searching out potential historic sites, then he suggests ports, river banks, anywhere construction is moving earth, old homes, ghost towns, abandoned trash dumps from bygone days… Mr. Marx has oodles of suggestions and lists them by state.

I’d love a really good metal detector…

The Lore of the Jack O’Lantern

We love our pumpkins, the goal each year being to grow as big a pumpkin as possible and revel in its great orange glory.  And, of course, to carve a ghostly grin in this triumph of pumpkinhood.  Sometimes we win the battle with the vine borers and succeed.  Sometimes we don’t.  

Our favorite looking pumpkin is the wonderfully ribbed heirloom Cinderella variety.  But we like most anything that achieves an impressive size.  Next year we will grow the biggest pumpkin ever.  And we have the most sincere pumpkin patch too.  *Pics of some of this year’s Cinderella Pumpkins~

The following bit of Halloween lore is from the Pumpkin Nook, an online source of info for all your pumpkin needs and one I highly recommend:

 

 The Irish brought the tradition of the Jack O’Lantern to America. But, the original Jack O’Lantern was not a pumpkin.The Jack O’Lantern legend goes back hundreds of years in Irish History.

 

As the story goes, Stingy Jack was a miserable, old drunk who liked to play tricks on everyone: family, friends, his mother and even the Devil himself. One day, he tricked the Devil into climbing up an apple tree. Once the Devil climbed up the apple tree, Stingy Jack hurriedly placed crosses around the trunk of the tree. The Devil was then unable to get down the tree. Stingy Jack made the Devil promise him not to take his soul when he died. Once the devil promised not to take his soul, Stingy Jack removed the crosses and let the Devil down.

Many years later, when Jack finally died, he went to the pearly gates of Heaven and was told by Saint Peter that he was too mean and too cruel and had led a miserable and worthless life on earth. He was not allowed to enter heaven. He then went down to Hell and the Devil. The Devil kept his promise and would not allow him to enter Hell.

 

Now Jack was scared and had nowhere to go but to wander about forever in the darkness between heaven and hell. He asked the Devil how he could leave as there was no light. The Devil tossed him an ember from the flames of Hell to help him light his way.

 

Jack placed the ember in a hollowed out Turnip, one of his favorite foods which he always carried around with him whenever he could steal one. For that day onward, Stingy Jack roamed the earth without a resting place, lighting his way as he went with his “Jack O’Lantern.

On all Hallow’s eve, the Irish hollowed out Turnips, rutabagas, gourds, potatoes and beets. They placed a light in them to ward off evil spirits and keep Stingy Jack away. These were the original Jack O’Lanterns. In the 1800′s a couple of waves of Irish immigrants came to America. The Irish immigrants quickly discovered that Pumpkins were bigger and easier to carve out. So they used pumpkins for Jack O’Lanterns.~