Introducing a rural, romance series with a difference. 

Thanks, Suz, for dropping by to tell us about this wonderful new rural romance series. With all the hunks and heroines discovering one another in this rural community, I foresee a population explosion in Bindarra Creek! 

What inspired you to write this story?

The goal plan of my heroine came to me after I read an article about remote country towns offering houses for sale or for rent at crazy cheap prices in order to encourage tradesmen with families to come and live in their towns. The desperation and the entrepreneurial spirit of that particular town impressed me. I wondered what life must be like for the people already living there and when I coupled that with an idea of government funding to revitalise communities I discovered I had the core premise of a series.

The character of Tessa came to me almost two years ago, when I wrote Dance in the Outback. I had this vague idea at the time of writing other stories based on various young people who had sought and found help in a children's refuge in the Blue Mountains. Tessa was originally blonde, blue-eyed and bubbly and I was certain her story would be a light-hearted and fun-type of romance. Of course, she ended up being nothing like my original idea! Since I was involved in writing my Darkon Warriors science fiction romance series at that time, Tessa was shelved but I always knew one day the details of her story would come to me. When I combined the two ideas, ie a struggling rural community with a girl with an agenda of her own, Bindarra Creek Makeover was born.

What drew you to the New England Tablelands as the setting for this series?

When I googled this region, I found an amazing diversity of landscapes that could be incorporated into various stories. National parks, grazing lands, the rolling hills of the western slopes, rivers, creeks, old gold mines and even the lure of being in the general vicinity of bushrangers notably, Captain Thunderbolt in the 1860’s. I also loved the isolation – it’s a village in its own corner of the world reasonably cut off from other major or larger towns so the community has had to rely on themselves and each other in order to get by.

What does your heroine see in your hero that sets him apart from other men?

In Dodge, Tessa sees steadiness and reliability of character, a protector and more importantly, someone who understands and does not judge her. And of course, there are those sexy dimples.

What comes next after Bindarra Creek Makeover?

In the Bindarra Creek Romance series, our next story is by Lee Christine in August followed by Susanne Bellamy’s story in September. For full details of these books please visit our website.

For myself, I’m continuing on with my science fiction romance / space exploration series, The Mars Academy with the next novella, Cosmic Flare coming out in late August 2015.

Blurb for Bindarra Creek Makeover:

Tessa Gibson reluctantly embarks on an elaborate plan to fund her escape from a dangerous collision with her past.

With the help of an isolated country town and the government grant meant to rebuild it, she’ll secure new identities for her sickly daughter and herself. Desperate to escape the nightmare stalking them, it never enters her head she’ll fall in love – not only with a cop but an entire community that makes her feel like one of their own.

With his career on shaky ground after his ex-partner is charged with fraud, Constable Dylan Myers (aka Dodge) returns to his hometown of Bindarra Creek. What he finds is a community struggling to survive. When an attractive young woman presents a proposal to the town council, his internal cop radar is activated. Something isn’t adding up about Tessa Gibson. No matter how much she makes his pulse race, Dodge doesn’t need or want any complications  – especially in his love-life, which is just fine as it is.

But neither Tessa nor Dodge are a match for his grandmother and her CWA cronies. They’ve got their own ideas on how to draw new life to Bindarra Creek…and not even the monster from Tessa’s past will stop them.

Bindarra Creek Makeover will be available from most etailors from 15th July 2015 and paperback from Createspace. Please visit my website or the Bindarra Creek Romance series website for further details.

It is available for pre-order here: Amazon | Smashwords

What would you risk for love?

With its incredible dangers and therefore its potential for great heroism, the French Revolution has offered writers the ultimate conflict against which to set great stories and strong characters.

Elizabeth Ellen Carter’s Moonstone Conspiracy joins the ranks this month as Lady Abigail and Daniel Ridgeway risk everything – life, love, and spies while avoiding Mme. La Guillotine.

Welcome, Elizabeth! 

Why did you choose the backdrop of the French Revolution for Abigail and Daniel’s story?

I love the French Revolution as a back drop. The events of 1789 shaped world affairs – politics, philosophy, economics, religion – and their effects are felt right to this day.

The French Revolution and indeed the French Republic was a grand experiment based on some very laudable ideals – the Americans shared some of those but appreciated the debt owed to the past. The French wanted to repudiate past altogether – and that turned out to be a brutal and bloody disaster.

The Reign of Terror amps up the stakes for Abigail and Daniel. Through their experiences in Paris, you can see how these two characters change and grow.

A certain favourite literary character of mine--Sink me!--makes an appearance. What considerations do you have to make when ‘borrowing’ such a well-known character?

It was important to me to keep him true to the beloved character that we know through the books and to a lesser extent the films, without Moonstone Conspiracy becoming ‘fanfiction’.

Nevertheless I took liberties with the character’s back story.  When I was writing Moonstone Obsession (in which he makes a guest appearance) I wondered who Sir Percy Blakeney really was before he took on his swashbuckling persona, he had to be more than simply of man of leisure -- so one thing led to another and I ended up hinting at the events which take place in the first Scarlet Pimpernel book.

What was the most difficult aspect of writing this book?

It was fulfilling the promise Sir Percy makes to Abigail – turning the Jezebel into a Rahab. Abigail comes to regret her past, although she makes no apologies for it. She doesn’t care a jot for other people’s opinion, but her past life has left her careworn and tired and she has a scheme which she believes will finally throw off the shackles of her past. She looks at Lady Hamilton and her life in Naples (remember this is before her affair with Lord Nelson) and thinks if only she could leave England, she could leave her past behind.

I didn’t want Abigail to lose the acerbic edge which made her such a popular character – even if she was horribly mean to Selina Rosewall in Moonstone Obsession.

Abigail plays a mean game of cards and bets calculatedly. Ladies generally didn’t play and bet like she does. Can you share an interesting piece of research about card games of this period?

Abigail’s reputation as a demi-rep gives her a great deal of licence to flout convention to a great degree. Women did play cards and gambled quite avidly. Amongst the most notorious were Faro Ladies. They flouted King George III’s Proclamation Against Vice and were caught.

Faro was a fast paced card game – easy to learn and easy to lose. That’s why Abigail decides to hedge her bets by marking the cards used at her good friend Lady Jane Templeton’s house parties.

Did I mention that Abigail is a very naughty girl?

I love a spy story (I’m forever a fan of Daniel Craig’s James Bond). How did the spy game differ during the French Revolution?

In some respects, not a lot is different – especially for the spies who are in enemy territory.

You have to live on your wits, you have to be self-reliant  -- you cannot afford to let people to get to know the real you or to form serious attachments (and this causes a lot of issues for Daniel).

You have to prepare to kill or be killed or to disappear without a trace at a moment’s notice.  At first Abigail thinks that this is going to be another adventure, but she soon realises how high the stakes are.

It is a hard profession and it takes a great spy master to know what assets to push and when to pull them out for the sake of their physical and mental safety. Daniel comes to wonder whether Sir Percy knows what he’s really doing when it comes to the safety of Daniel’s friend and fellow spy, Jonathan Sawyer.

Excerpt

Daniel picked his moment carefully. He watched Sir Percy’s wife leave with another group soon after the announcement was made. And although he made no especial effort to hide, he nonetheless remained in the shadows. He pulled out a cigar and lit it on a nearby taper.

As soon as he heard the footman call for Sir Percy’s carriage, he stepped forward into the carriage and waited for Blakeney to join him.

“Send me to France, Percy,” he said as soon as the carriage jolted into motion.

“I’m not going to do that,” Blakeney replied.

“You can’t just leave Jonathan there!”

“He signed on knowing the same risks as you.”

“He has a wife and children!”

“And you seem inordinately fond of them,” Sir Percy snapped back. “You saw the list you gave me tonight. A dozen good men and women dead because of the Jacobins. I’m not prepared to risk more. Not until we know what we’re up against.”

“It could be too late!”

“You took an oath when you joined the League, Ridgeway. One to command, all to obey. Bear that in mind.”

Daniel leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees and exhaled long and sharp.

He felt Percy slap him on the back.

“Just wait a week until we know the lay of the land. I haven’t studied the documents you gave me and Parliament hasn’t even prepared a response to the National Committee’s declaration of war.”

“A week is a long time, Percy,” Daniel warned.

“So is eternity, dear chap. Don’t lose your head. As you well know, those Frenchies have a devilish way of parting you from it.”

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Excerpt: (A snippet of conversation between Liam and his mam, Mrs. Cullen.)

“Liam. It’s time for the tea and the chats.”

That was how his mam always prefaced a ‘talk’. It had always been like that, ever since he was little.

He sat opposite her as she poured a cup of tea in the kitchen at An Mullach and pushed a plate of freshly baked scones and butter closer to him.

“Tell me how you are, lad.”

He sipped the tea. It was the best tea in the world, as usual. “I’m grand, Mam. You know that.”

“I don’t want to pry, son, but I don’t want you getting hurt either. I’m wondering if our Ash is planning on staying, you know, forever.”

Liam ran a hand through his hair. “Mam, if I knew the answer to that, I’d have taken out a full page ad in the Tipp Times by now.”

“But she loves you?”

He felt his face turn pink. “Yes, Mam. She does love me. It’s just that…she’s been through a lot, you know that, and let’s face it, our family is a force to be reckoned with. She’s an only child, her parents didn’t give a hoot about her, she’s grown up being independent and resourceful and, well, she’s not ready to relinquish all that just yet.”

“Now, Liam, that’s crap and you know it. Yes, I know Ash has got her plans. But they’re all coming to fruition here at our farm. What happens when she’s achieved all her goals? What then? Will she make a new set of plans and move on? Or will she be content to enjoy life here with us?”

Liam lifted his head and held his mother’s gaze. “Mam, I’m prepared to wait. But there’s something else you should know.” He paused, then continued. “I’m also prepared to follow Ash to the ends of the earth to be with her.”

His mam’s gaze never wavered. “That’s what I would expect from a man with your conviction, Liam.” Her eyes shone, and she looked away. “Lord knows, I’d hate you to leave, but…”

He reached across the table and covered her hand with his. “Mam, I…”

She lifted her gaze to his, her eyes now welling. “My Stan left his family in Durrow to come and work on An Mullach, to be with me. We couldn’t live apart, you see. He moved into a one-room shack at the back of the dairy, and we made love there every chance we got. We couldn’t breathe when we were apart. Our lives only really mattered when we were together. But because my mam was so ill, well, I had to look after Da and the boys. That’s why I didn’t get much schooling. Because I had to cook and clean for seven brothers. So I couldn’t leave.” A tear spilled over and ran down her cheek, landing with a soft plop on the seersucker checkered tablecloth. “So Stan followed me here. And we were madly in love for over thirty years, until the good Lord took him from me.”

Liam felt the sting of salty tears in the back of his eyes. He remembered how affectionate his mam and da had been, doing big passionate kisses in the kitchen as Cherry and the boys were trying to eat dinner, and them groaning and saying how bad it was that their parents nearly made them feel sick. He remembered them dancing together at all the family gatherings, only having eyes for each other, and how every Sunday morning Da would go out into the fields early and pick a bunch of wild flowers and put them in a little vase on the breakfast table right in front of where his mam sat.

He cleared his throat. “I’ll be a good husband, Mam, just like Da was. And one day, I hope to be a good father too. But nothing would make me happier than to raise my family here at An Mullach, and I say prayers every night that the good Lord will make that possible. But either way, Ash will be my wife. I know it.”

Robinhill Farm Book 2

Ireland and all things Irish fascinate Noelle Clark and her holiday there has led to this three-book series ...

Greeting, Noelle!

What are the greatest challenges, and the greatest joys, of writing a series?

The biggest challenge for me has been to ensure that books 2 and 3 live up to the promise that the first book has. They are stand-alone books, and therefore have their own story line, but the surroundings and characters from book one are there as well. In the second book, I’ve been able to again showcase the loveable Mrs. Cullen who has been so popular with readers, plus focus on her boys, particularly Liam. I’ve enjoyed getting to know Liam better. He’s a really nice guy.

What I’ve enjoyed most about writing this continuing series is creating a world where I feel quite at home. I know their farms well, their homes—heck, if I was to visit the kitchen at Robinhill I’d know exactly where the toaster is, the teapot, and of course where Mrs. Cullen hides the bottle of Jameson’s under the kitchen sink.

I have to admit that I’ll be very sorry to leave Robinhill Farm after book three. I’ll miss the characters, and I’ll probably worry about them and wonder if they’re doing okay without me.

One of the pleasures of a series is becoming more familiar with the family and community in which it is set. Which characters can we expect to meet again?

As I said above, Mrs. Cullen takes a fairly strong supportive role as Liam’s mam. She’s the matriarch and likes to be in control.

Honor and Bryan, Dermot and Cherry, and their children are in the story, and Liam’s brother Tom. Each of the characters has grown and changed—as we all do—over the past three years, and it’s interesting to see how their relationships have grown as well.

Liam (what a wonderful name!) is the hero of book two. Where does he fit into the story begun in book one?

In book one, Liam had a supporting role as Cherry’s oldest brother, a wise counsel, protector, and I guess the overseer of the farms. He and his brother, Tom, are loveable men who love their mother’s cooking, and Mrs. Cullen dotes on her boys. They are not all that well educated, but are brilliant farmers. They work hard, party hard, and love abundantly.

How do you structure your writing day?

Susanne, I wish I did have a structure to my day. I do try, but something always seems to distract me. But most days, I rise early, check my emails and then spend an hour on social media doing promo work for myself and other writers. I then set out to write a minimum of one thousand words. If the Muse is being kind, that’s an easy task, and I often keep going until I literally need to take a break.

On days when the words aren’t flowing so easily, I shift my brain into auto-pilot by writing a blog piece, or something else that lets my sub-conscious churn away on the story. At the end of the day, I like to have completed some tasks and to have written a good chunk of my work in progress, otherwise I feel I’ve wasted my time.

Writing a series means you have many threads of characters, places and events. How do you keep track of the wealth of details within each story as well as the series?

I’ve got to know all the O’Dohertys and the Cullens quite well, and I keep charts with their character traits, ages, relationships, and their physical details (eye colour, hair, height, build, clothing preference etc).

I have a map of Ireland in front of me at all times, so I know exactly where my characters are, and the landscape around them. I use ‘earth view’ in Google maps to get a feel for the lay of the land, mountains, hills, rivers and so on. I pore over photos I took while visiting that area, and research the local Tipperary newspapers for any events that might lend authenticity to my story.

I also monitor the weather conditions at the particular time of year that the story is set. This is extremely important when writing a rural story, as farming is so governed by the seasons, especially in Ireland. Needless to say, I immerse myself deeply into the landscape, the Irish slang, customs, and the Irish psyche.

Although I mostly write in a quiet environment, I’m a great believer in music to set the mood for a scene. Do you need a calm writing space, and do you play music to help achieve an atmosphere for a scene?

When I first began writing, I loved having atmospheric music playing in the background, but these days I prefer total silence. I hear the voices of my characters better. J But if I’m a bit stuck in a particular scene, I like to take a break and watch a movie, or at least a part of one, that triggers some emotions akin to my characters. For instance, if I’m stuck writing a bedroom scene, I watch parts of a film called Unfaithful. It has passionate, lusty sex scenes and gets me into a space where I can then write my scene. Yesterday, I watched for the first time the episode of Outlander called the Wedding. Phew. Now I have a much more tender, yet no less passionate snippet to watch to inspire me to write certain scenes.

As a singer/songwriter, do you channel your musical background for any of your characters, or for your setting?

This is a tricky question. I really don’t know. I do see clear visuals in my head of the landscape and setting for my stories, and my songs also evoke pictures. Writing songs is a lot like writing a 70,000 word novel – it’s introducing a concept, character/s, telling a story, and wrapping it up in a neat ending. Only it’s microscopic, can only last around three to four minutes, and has to rhyme. When inspiration for a song comes to me, it’s a similar experience to when I get an idea for a book. But I don’t think I actually channel songwriting in that way.

What piece of music would you choose as the ‘theme song’ for Liam’s story?

Until I read your question above, I’d never really considered a theme song for Liam, however I dug around and found the perfect song. It is one of my favourites from Australian singer Shanley Del. She wrote it, and sang it as a duet with her husband in about 2000. The words and sentiment aptly mirror Liam’s quiet determination to wait for the love of his life to take the plunge and marry him. It’s quite uncanny that I literally dug this song out yesterday, as I remember that there is a line in Honor’s Promise where Liam actually says words similar to ‘she can take her own sweet time.’ I must have channelled this song subconsciously.

You Tube link https://youtu.be/RAGM-kkQD8A