The Blog Tour rolls along this week, lineup is at the right. Also, play along on The Romance Reviews site all month long for fabulous prizes and a good time.
But before you head off to visit the blogs, pull up a chair and get to know Linda.
My good friend Linda Pennell is visiting me today, all the way from Texas. Linda's a fellow Soul Mate author, and another historic author. Her book, Al Capone at the Blanche Hotel, was released July, 2013 and her most recent, Confederado do Norte, came out in July of this year. It is set after the Civil War, and is based on an actual event--a repercussion I did not know about until reading her book. I had a few questions to ask this lovely lady. Here we go!
What is your
current project about?
I’m so glad you asked! My
recently released historical is entitled Confederado do Norte. Here’s a taste
of what it’s about.
Set during the aftermath of
the American Civil War, Confederado do Norte tells the
story of Mary Catherine MacDonald Dias Oliveira Atwell, a child torn from her
war devastated home in Georgia and thrust into the primitive Brazilian interior
where the young woman she becomes must learn to recreate herself in order to
survive.
October, 1866.
Mary Catherine is devastated when
her family emigrates from Georgia to Brazil because her father and maternal
uncle refuse to accept the terms of Reconstruction following the Confederacy’s
defeat. Shortly after arrival in their new country, she is orphaned, leaving
her in Uncle Nathan’s care. He hates Mary Catherine, blaming her for his
sister’s death. She despises him because she believes Nathan murdered her
father. When Mary Catherine discovers Nathan’s plan to be rid of her as well,
she flees into the mountain wilderness filled with jaguars and equally
dangerous men. Finding refuge among kind peasants, she grows into a beauty,
ultimately marrying the scion of a wealthy Portuguese family. Happiness and
security seem assured until civil unrest brings armed marauders who have an
inexplicable connection to Mary Catherine. Recreating herself has protected
Mary Catherine in the past, but this new crisis will demand all of the courage,
intelligence, and creativity she possesses simply to survive.
What’s next for
your readers?
Great question! I have a
World War II novel out on submission. It’s entitled Casablanca: Appointment at Dawn.
Here is a taste of it, too.
Casablanca,
1943 – a viper’s nest of double agents and spies where OSS Officer Kurt Heinz
finds his skill in covert operations pushed to the limit. Allied success in
North Africa, perhaps the outcome of the war, may hang on Kurt’s next mission.
The nature of his work makes relationships impossible; nonetheless, he is
increasingly torn between duty and the beautiful girl who desperately needs his
help.
Sarah
Barrett, U.S. Army R.N., is finished with wartime romance. Determined to
protect her recently broken heart, she throws all of her time and energy into
caring for her patients, but when she is given a coded message by a mysterious
dying civilian, she is sucked into a vortex of danger and intrigue that
threatens her very survival. The one person who can help Sarah is Kurt Heinz, a
man with too many secrets to be trusted.
Keep
your fingers crossed for me that it gets picked up soon!
What’s your
favorite part about writing? Least favorite?
My favorite part of writing
is the creative process that comes with getting to play “let’s pretend” and
then seeing the product of my imagination appear on the page. As a child, I had
a big imagination and loved to take on new personas and characters during play.
Writing is my adult version of that.
Why do you write in the
genre you do?
I love history – pure and
simple!
Have you ever written a character based on
someone you know?
Having grown up in the Deep
South where storytelling has a long and honored tradition, the people and
places I’ve known and the experiences I’ve had cannot help but creep into my
writing. Sometimes this is a conscious choice, other times I don’t realize the
similarities until the work sits for a while.
Where do you rank in the family hierarchy?
First child? Only child? Baby? Somewhere in between?
I’m an only child who has
always longed for siblings. Since I don’t have any, I create my own brothers
and sisters through friendships and connections with cousins.
Are you a dog or cat
person?
Both!
A pet parent, just like a mom to human children, isn’t supposed to have
favorites!
Sun or fog?
I love both. There is
something lovely and ethereal about a foggy day spent curled up with a good
book or by the fire. Since I live in Texas, I better like sun or move to a
cooler climate!
Bio, Social Media, Buy Links,
etc.:
I have been in love with the
past for as long as I can remember. Anything with a history, whether shabby or
majestic, recent or ancient, instantly draws me in. I suppose it comes from
being part of a large extended family that spanned several generations. Long
summer afternoons on my grandmother's porch or winter evenings gathered around
her fireplace were filled with stories both entertaining and poignant. Of
course being set in the American South, those stories were also peopled by some
very interesting characters, some of whom have found their way into my work.
As for my venture in writing, it
has allowed me to reinvent myself. We humans are truly multifaceted creatures,
but unfortunately we tend to sort and categorize each other into neat, easily
understood packages that rarely reveal the whole person. Perhaps you, too, want
to step out of the box in which you find yourself. I encourage you to look at
the possibilities and imagine. Be filled with childlike wonder in your mental
wanderings. Envision what might be, not simply what is. Let us never forget,
all good fiction begins when someone says to her or himself, "Let's
pretend."
I reside in the Houston area
with one sweet husband and one adorable German Shorthaired Pointer who is quite
certain she’s a little girl.
Twitter:
@LindaPennell
I just returned from a mini vacation/research trip to New York's Finger Lakes. My newest contemporary features a couple who meet at a lake in upstate New York, and I thought the Finger Lakes would be perfect. So, my sister, Pat, and I drove first to Rochester, to meet up with my cousins, whom I've corresponded with but have never met. So here we are, clockwise from the upper left: cousin Sharon, me, cousin Melanie, and Pat.
But, beautiful as they were, the Finger Lakes didn't mesh with my story. They were too commercial for my story line. In my mind I had pictured a much smaller lake in a very wooded area, surrounded by homes that had been there for generations.
