Kitten in the House -- Author at Work

See the laptop. See the kitten. See the challenge. I'm writing. Sort of. Sparky McGee wants to play. Kitty Peaches and Cream are napping with a do not disturb label. Even Puppy Cooper is snoozing. Our older dog, Jilly, idly lifts her head and Kitty Pavel hides. So I'm it. That's me in the pink shirt with the laptop and this is who I see when I glance down. I took a lot of pics to get one where he wasn't a busy blur. :)

I can't really blame all my writing challenges on Sparky McGee, though. The H&H in my current work --an older YA paranormal time travel romance-- have had their hand on the doorknob for weeks. I've left them standing on the porch of the mystery house while I try to plot out who will answer their knock. Everything hinges on who and what lies on the other side of that door. I have researched various time periods--exhaustively--because I'm not even sure what era we are in yet. And I've schemed different ways this story can go, but I can't make up my mind. It seems to boil down to that inner leading. Sometimes, I just have to open the door and walk through. Only then, will I discover what awaits my characters. Only then, will I know how the story goes. And this is the whole problem with me and plotting. I can only scheme so much. The rest I have to learn. I think I know how this story will go but invariably the characters chart a different course. Fear not, I am prepared. Research helps me jump here or there.

What of you? Plotters or pansters?  Or a combination of both, like me?

Back to Sparky McGee, he has moved on to cruising the bookshelves, furniture, etc, and attacking anything that moves which includes my toes. A thing doesn't even have to wiggle for him to pounce. He's on the prowl.

"I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat." ~Author unknown

"There is no more intrepid explorer than a kitten. "~Jules Champfleury

"Kittens believe that all nature is occupied with their diversion." ~F.A. Paradis de Moncrif

"Who would believe such pleasure from a wee ball o' fur?"~Irish Saying

Sparky McGee below when he's my contented writing buddy in sleepy mode.

Kittens happen.

For more on my work, visit my Amazon author page at: https://www.amazon.com/Beth-Trissel/e/B002BLLAJ6/

New Audiobook--Historical Romance Novel Red Bird's Song!

I am delighted to have the first story I ever wrote in audio! Narrator Paul-Alexandre Petit did a fabulous and painstaking job.

More about the story.

In the Beginning: Years ago, while researching family genealogy, I gained the courage to take the leap from penning non-fiction essays about rural life (I live on a farm in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia) and plunge into historical romance novels set in early America. That first story, Red Bird’s Song, (written and rewritten multiple times) is the book of my heart.

"I loved the descriptions...I felt I was there...Many mystical episodes are intermingled with the events...The ending is a real surprise, but I will let you have the pleasure of reading it for yourself." --Seriously Reviewed

“This book touched my soul even as it provided a thrilling fictional escape into a period of history I have always found fascinating.”
~ Laurie-J Reviewer for Red Bird’s Song at Night Owl Romance
Red Bird’s Song is a 2012 Double Epic Award Finalist.

(Image of the Alleghenies taken by my mom, Pat Churchman)

My fascination with Colonial America, particularly stirring tales of the frontier and the Shawnee Indians, is an early and abiding one. My English, Scot-Irish (we called ourselves the Scotch-Irish, but are often corrected, so whatever) ancestors had interactions with this tribe, including family members taken captive. In Red Bird’s Song, I honed in on my early American roots in a story featuring the Scots-Irish and an Indian attack that happened to my ancestors.

My award-winning Native American themed historical romance novel Through the Fire is also based on research into my colonial forebears and the French and Indian War.

Though written to stand alone, historical romance novel Kira Daughter of the Moon is the sequel to Through the Fire. These three novels, plus The Bearwalker's Daughter comprise my Native American Warrior Series.

(Image of family musket, hunting pouch, and powder horn by my mom, Pat Churchman)

Red Bird’s Song (Native American Warrior Series):

Blurb: Taken captive by a Shawnee war party wasn’t how Charity Edmondson hoped to escape an unwanted marriage. Nor did Shawnee warrior Wicomechee expect to find the treasure promised by his grandfather’s vision in the unpredictable red-headed girl.

George III’s English Red-Coats, unprincipled colonial militia, prejudice and jealousy are not the only enemies Charity and Wicomechee will face before they can hope for a peaceful life. The greatest obstacle to happiness is in their own hearts. As they struggle through bleak mountains and cold weather, facing wild nature and wilder men, Wicomechee and Charity must learn to trust each other.~

“With “Red Bird’s Song”, Beth Trissel has painted an unforgettable portrait of a daring and defiant love brought to life in the wild and vivid era of Colonial America. Highly recommended for lovers of American history and romance lovers alike!” ~Review by Virginia Campbell

RED BIRD'S SONG was purchased from The Wild Rose Press by Amazon for republication under their Encore line. Look for it in kindle and print and now audio at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Red-Birds-Song/dp/B07HBBXBT1

RED BIRD'S SONG audiobook at Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/Red-Birds-Song-Audiobook/B07HBC72YS

Kittens Happen

Last Friday, I was given a tiny kitten to care for--for the weekend--but his stay is now indefinite. Sometimes, you just need a kitten, and you didn't even know it. Hubby would appreciate my finding a home for the baby when he's older. Meanwhile...I'm getting attached, as are the grandkids and Puppy Cooper. Cooper loves this kitten and frequently checks on it. If the baby mews, he rushes to its box to see if it's OK, and when I let the tiny toddler explore, Cooper is on its tail. The grandkids are building the kitten a playhouse run out of Amazon boxes with connecting tunnels. Very creative and he has rewarded them by darting through their maze like a hamster. Just between us, I think hubby is destined to have another cat in his life.

When I first began Furbaby Friday, it was as a tribute to my dear little dog and best friend, Sadie. Her passing tore me up more than words can express. I still miss her terribly, and tear up thinking about her, but Cooper, Jilly, our farm dog, Luca, and my kitties are a big comfort. Peaches and Cream have been my babies since they were two week old kittens granddaughter Emma found abandoned. Cream was left in a mud puddle, so dirty we couldn't tell he was a white kitten. He and Peaches are buddy brothers. Funny bird Kitty Pavel is attached to me in his own way. All my furbabies are rescues, and give back so much to me and the family.

(Sadie and Percy)

About a week after Sadie crossed the rainbow bridge, Kitty Percy followed her. A very sad time for us all, especially me. This little kitten that has come into our lives looks a lot like Percy did. Percy and Sadie were pals and snoozed on the couch together. They kept me company through many a writing project and the ups and downs of life. I have missed Percy a lot too, and wonder if this new kitty might be like him. You can't replace a dearly loved furbaby, but newcomers have a way of finding a place in your heart you didn't even know you had. They create their own warm home in the deepest recesses of our sentiments, maybe even our soul. Those people who do not love furbabies will never understand. Those who do, need no explanation. We know what our furbabies mean to us. Yes, they are a handful to care for at times, but I cannot imagine my life without them. Nor do I wish to. They are my dear friends and an essential part of my life.

(Peaches and Cream)

(Cooper and Jilly)

As of yesterday, the kitten has been named Sparky McGee.

Time Travel Romance Somewhere My Love–Free Kindle Thru 8/18

Somewhere My Love (Book 1, Somewhere in Time) is the story that began my preoccupation with time travel. It spun into the Somewhere in Time series, and now I’ve added a new series with Ladies in Time. Both series are similar and have historical, paranormal, and often ghostly elements. I like a good mystery in my time travels so that’s also an important feature. And above all, romance. These are love stories.

Blurb:  

Two hundred years ago Captain Cole Wentworth, the master of an elegant Virginian home, was murdered in his chamber where his portrait still hangs. Presently the estate is a family owned museum run by Will Wentworth, a man so uncannily identical to his ancestor that spirit-sensitive tour guide Julia Morrow has trouble recognizing Cole and Will as separate. 

As Julia begins to remember the events of Cole’s death, she must convince Will that history is repeating, and this time he has the starring role in the tragedy. The blade is about to fall.

***Somewhere My Love is free in kindle through August 18th, so snap yours up now at:  https://www.amazon.com/SOMEWHERE-LOVE-Somewhere-Time-Book-ebook/dp/B00AFJ7DZ6

Free Kindle–The Bearwalker’s Daughter (Native American Warrior #1)

Free in kindle from 7/26 -7/29 at: https://www.amazon.com/Bearwalkers-Daughter-Native-American-Warrior-ebook/dp/B007V6MA22

‘A change was coming as surely as the shifting seasons. Karin McNeal heard the urgent whispers in the wind.’

Historical romance novel, The Bearwalker’s Daughter, is a blend of carefully researched historical fiction interwoven with an intriguing paranormal thread and set among the clannish Scots in the mist-shrouded Alleghenies. The story is similar to others of mine with a western colonial frontier, Native American theme, and features a powerful warrior or two. My passion for the past and some of the accounts I uncovered while exploring my early American Scots-Irish ancestors and the Shawnee Indians is at the heart of my inspiration.

A tragic account is the driving force behind the story, the ill-fated romance of a young captive woman who fell in love with the son of a chief. As the result of a treaty, she was taken from her warrior husband and forced back to her white family where she gave birth to a girl. Then the young woman’s husband did the unthinkable and left the tribe to go live among the whites, but such was their hatred of Indians that before he reached his beloved her brothers killed him. Inconsolable and weak from the birth, she grieved herself to death.

Heart-wrenching, that tale haunts me to this day. And I wondered, was there some way those young lovers could have been spared such anguish, and what happened to their infant daughter when she grew up? I know she was raised by her white family–not what they told her about her mother and warrior father.

Not only did The Bearwalker’s Daughter spring from that sad account, but it also had a profound influence on my historical romance novel Red Bird’s Song. Now that I’ve threaded it through two novels, perhaps I can let go…perhaps….

The history my novels draw from is raw and real, a passionate era where only the strong survive. Superstition ran high among both the Scots and Native Americans, and far more, a vision that transcends what is, to reach what can be. 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. Remember those who’ve gone before you.

As to bearwalking, this belief/practice predates modern Native Americans to the more ancient people. In essence, a warrior transforms himself into a bear and goes where he wills in that form, a kind of shapeshifting.

Blurb:

Autumn 1784: Karin McNeal hasn’t grasped who she really is or her fierce birthright. A tragic secret from the past haunts the young Scots-Irish woman who longs to learn more of her mother’s death and the mysterious father no one will name. The elusive voices she hears in the wind hint at the dramatic changes soon to unfold in the mist-shrouded Alleghenies in Autumn, 1784.

Jack McCray, the wounded stranger who staggers through the door on the eve of her twentieth birthday and anniversary of her mother’s death, holds the key to unlock the past. Will Karin let this handsome frontiersman lead her to the truth and into his arms, or seek the shelter of her fiercely possessive kinsmen? Is it only her imagination or does someone, or something, wait beyond the brooding ridges–for her?~

*Cover by my daughter Elise Trissel. She also formatted the novel for print.

***The Bearwalker’s Daughter is a revised version of romance novel Daughter of the Wind Publisher’s Weekly BHB Reader’s Choice Best Books of 2009

“Ms. Trissel’s alluring style of writing invites the reader into a world of fantasy and makes it so believable it is spellbinding.” –Long and Short Reviews

For more of my work, visit my Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Beth-Trissel/e/B002BLLAJ6/

Many of My Books Now in Audio!

For those of you who prefer listening to stories, I have a growing number of audiobooks. Several more stories have been completed and will soon be added to my author page at Audible and at Amazon. Some of these books are novellas and others are novels.

Visit My Page At Audible: 
https://www.audible.com/author/Beth-Trissel/B002BLLAJ6

My Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/default/e/B002BLLAJ6
I will give the individual Amazon link as I touch on each book.

The latest addition to books of mine now available in audio is ghostly Time Travel romance, Somewhere My Lady (Book One, Ladies In Time). Narrator Sarah King did a super job.

Story Blurb:

Is he real or is he a ghost?

Lorna Randolph is hired for the summer at Harrison Hall in Virginia, where Revolutionary War reenactors provide guided tours of the elegant old home. She doesn’t expect to receive a note and a kiss from a handsome young man who then vanishes into mist.
Harrison Hall itself has plans for Lorna – and for Hart Harrison, her momentary suitor and its 18th-century heir.

Past and present are bound by pledges of love, and modern science melds with old skills and history as Harrison Hall takes Lorna and Hart through time in a race to solve a mystery and save Hart’s life before the Midsummer Ball.

At Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Somewhere-My-Lady-Ladies-Time/dp/B07FDJYJJ2

The White Lady, Book Two Ladies in Time Series, is also a recent audio addition. Narrator, Susan Marlowe, did an excellent job and presented an enjoyably told tale.

Story Blurb:

Avery Dunham has always been ready to follow her friend, time-traveling wizard Ignus Burke, on incredible adventures. This time, though, she has serious misgivings. It’s just one week before Christmas, but she cannot get him to change his mind. The usually cool and collected magic-wielding leader is wholly obsessed by the portrait of the White Lady whom he is bent on rescuing.

Almost as soon as they begin their journey, it becomes clear their mission is a trap. Avery was right: this adventure is not going to be like any other.

Get The White Lady at: https://www.amazon.com/White-Lady-Ladies-Time-Book/dp/B07CGPG29C

Another new addition to my audio fold is historical mystery/adventure romance Traitor’s Legacy, sequel to Enemy of the King. Both novels are set during the high drama of the American Revolution. Narrator Lisa Valdini is excellent in this audiobook.

Story Blurb: 1781. On opposite sides of the War of Independence, British Captain Jacob Vaughan and Claire Monroe find themselves thrust together by chance and expediency.

Captain Vaughan comes to a stately North Carolina manor to catch a spy. Instead, he finds himself in bedlam: The head of the household is an old man ravaged by madness, the one sane male of the family is the very man he is hunting, and the household is overseen by his beguiling sister, Claire.

Torn between duty, love, and allegiances, yearning desperately for peace, will Captain Vaughan and Claire Monroe forge a peace of their own against the vagaries of war and the betrayal of false friends?

At Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Traitors-Legacy-Beth-Trissel/dp/1628304774

A wonderful British narrator, Rebecca McKernan, did a fantastic job with my English historical romance, Into the Lion’s Heart.

Story Blurb:

Will the English captain save a woman the French Revolution would devour when he knows the truth?

Georgian England, 1789: As the French Revolution rages, the English nobility offer sanctuary to many a refugee. Captain Dalton Evans arrives in Dover to meet a distant cousin, expecting to see a spoiled aristocrat. Instead, he’s conquered by the simplicity of his new charge. And his best friend Thomas Archer isn’t immune to her artless charm, either.

French émigré Cecile Beaumont didn’t choose to travel across the Channel. And she certainly didn’t expect that impersonating her own mistress would introduce her to a most mesmerizing man. Now she must play out the masquerade, or risk life, freedom – and her heart.

At Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Into-Lions-Heart-Love-Letters/dp/B079N77LVY

Poignantly sweet, ghostly Christmas Romance, Somewhere The Bells Ring, is a wonderful audio book. I can’t rave enough about the performance of narrator, Tom Jordan.

Story Blurb:

Caught with pot in her dorm room, Bailey Randolph is exiled to a relative’s ancestral home in Virginia to straighten herself out. Banishment to Maple Hill is dismal, until a ghost appears requesting her help. Bailey is frightened but intrigued. Then her girlhood crush, Eric Burke, arrives and suddenly Maple Hill isn’t so bad.

To Eric, wounded in Vietnam, his military career shattered, this homecoming feels no less like exile. But when he finds Bailey at Maple Hill, her fairy-like beauty gives him reason to hope – until she tells him about the ghost haunting the house. Then he wonders if her one experiment with pot has made her crazy.

As Bailey and Eric draw closer, he agrees to help her find a long-forgotten Christmas gift the ghost wants. But will the magic of Christmas be enough to make Eric believe – in Bailey and the ghost – before the Christmas bells ring?

Review for Somewhere the Bells Ring at Audible: “Well done!
This isn’t my usual genre, but I found myself liking the book more than I thought I would. The narration was excellent and really drew me into the story. I recommend the book.”

At Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Somewhere-Bells-Ring-Time-Book/dp/B075GWRZ1G/

Another well done audiobook is The Hunter’s Moon, Book One in my Young Adult Fantasy Series Secret Warrior. Narrator Victoria Brodski did a sensational job.

Story Blurb:

Seventeen-year-old Morgan Daniel has been in the witness protection program most of her life. But The Panteras have caught up with her and her younger brother. Her car is totaled, she’s hurt, and the street gang is closing in when wolves with glowing eyes appear out of nowhere and chase away the killers. Then a very cute guy who handles a bow like Robin Hood emerges from the woods and takes them to safety at his fortress-like home. And that’s just the first sign that Morgan and her brother have entered a hidden world filled with secrets…

The Hunter’s Moon has a super audio review: 5.0 out of 5 stars

“Great on Audio
ByR. Grabowskion May 15, 2018
Format: Audible Audiobook
This was a fun read… or listen. It was actually one of the first YA books I listened to on audio.

The beginning of the book pulled me right in with a scene with 16-year-old Morgan and her 10-year-old brother, Jimmy. It reminded me a lot of the relationship Meg has with Charles Wallace in a Wrinkle and Time because Jimmy is also very smart. (He was actually one of my favorite characters.) I loved how the author created a beautiful world in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia where some people can change into werewolves. The focus of the book was more on Morgan’s curse and her future. The real action will start in book 2 as this was only a novella. It kept me hooked with interesting characters and a unique take on werewolves.”

At Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hunters-Moon-Secret-Warrior/dp/B076TMHF6Z/

I could seriously use more reviews. If you are an avid listener of audiobooks, please give these a listen and leave me one.

Happy listening! All of these books are published by The Wild Rose Press and the audios are done through the company.