In The Beginning by Suzanne Rossi

Last month I attended my 50^th high school reunion. (Yeah, I can’t believe I’m that old either!) I haven’t hugged that many people in my life, but not before sneaking a peek at their name tags just to make sure I didn’t make an idiot out of myself. As the three day event went on, many of my classmates asked how on earth I ever got into writing. Well, let me tell you.

I was always an avid reader. As a kid, I cut my teeth on Nancy Drew. Eventually, I graduated to what is now called Young Adult with books about teens, dating, and a chaste kiss at the end of the story. About the same time I also discovered Agatha Christie. As I matured, my tastes ran to different genres in fiction and a lot of non-fiction.

But my reading life changed when my husband was away at basic training. I was standing in line at the drug store when a circular rack of books caught my attention. They were slim and all came from some publisher called Harlequin. I bought a couple. Two days later I returned and bought the rest. I was hooked.

I don’t know how it happened, but one day in 1999 I finished a book with a sense of irritation. The sweet, submissive young heroine secretly in love with the uber-Alpha hero who ordered her around made me grind my teeth—latent feminism, I suppose. The phrase that popped into my mind was, “Hell, I can do this.”

So I did. Back then it all sounded so simple—write a book, send it to a publisher, and collect lots of money in royalties. The problem was I couldn’t write for beans. I didn’t know the craft. Writing is an art that takes years to perfect. In my case it was nine. Nine long years of attending my local RWA chapter meetings, going to conferences, networking, and most of all learning.

And then one day, it happened. The Wild Rose Press bought “Along Came Quinn.”

I consider myself lucky to do what I do. I love creating plots, characters, and seeing where they take me. My twelfth book, “The Good Twin” will be released on September 25, 2015. I wrote a book worthy of publishing, although I’m still waiting for the lots of money part.

So, if any of you readers are thinking of heading down the author path, keep this in mind. Not all readers will become authors, but I never met an author who wasn’t a reader.

Take care and have a good day. See you next month.

Suzanne

BETH TRISSEL'S PLANTS AND HERBS TEACH US IN A BEAUTIFUL WAY!

By Caroline Clemmons

Beth Trissel has had a conflict, so I’m filling in for her. Beth always has such beautiful photos and interesting blogs, I’m a bit nervous.

I’ve taken several of Beth’s workshops on herbs. From those came her book, PLANTS FOR A MEDEIVAL HERB GARDEN IN THE BRITISH ISLES. Don’t let the title fool you because most of the plants are found in the U.S. and many other countries.

Beth's book is available in print and e-book

One of the entries is the apple, which is universal, right? Beth says that the history of the apple is closely linked with the history of man. She mentions the Johnny Appleseed blessing, but doesn’t give the words, so I’m including them after the photo below:

Apples being gathered in an orchard

The Johnny Appleseed Blessing

Anonymous

Oh, the Lord is good to me, 

And so I thank the Lord

For giving me the things I need

The sun, and the rain, and the apple seed

The Lord is good to me.

When I read those words, the tune pops into my head from the Disney movie about Johnny Appleseed. But John Chapman, "Johnny Appleseed", was a real person who planted apples across the country. Today, there are many, many varieties of apples. I don't know how many were around when the great herbalist Culpepper was alive. Beth quotes A MODERN HERBAL:

"The chief dietetic value of apples lie in the mailic and tartaric acids. These acids are of benefit to persons of sedentary habits, who are liable to liver derangements, and they neutralize the acid products of gout and indigestion."

Chickweed

When we lived in a rural area, chickweed was a nuisance. I didn't like touching it to pull it from the lawn and only did so when wearing gloves. But the juice of this "weed" is valuable against scurvy. Boiled in lard, the plant becomes a soothing green ointment.

Pennyroyal

After the wet spring we had this year, fleas and other insects were abundant. We should have had a bounty of pennyroyal planted strategically around the yard. According to Beth, in addition to chasing fleas, pennyroyal smells lovely when trod upon.

Rosebuds

My favorite flowers are various roses. Beth included them in her book. One uses the petals and the rose hips. Beth also shares that she gets old-time rosebud salve from the American-based Rosebud Perfume Company, founded in 1895 by George F. Smith. All their products are gluten-free.

Creeping Thyme

Many years ago when Hero and I lived between San Francisco and San Jose, California we grew a thyme groundcover which was very nice and had tiny lavender flowers. However, that dwarf groundcover was a newer variety. According to medieval herbalist Culpepper:

"Thyme is a noble strengthener of the lungs, as notable one as grows, nor is there a better remedy growing for whooping cough. It purgeth the body of phlegm and is an excellent remedy for shortness of breath. It is so harmless you need not fear the use of it. An ointment made of it takes away hot swellings and warts, helps the sciatica and dullness of sight and takes away any pains and hardness of the spleen; it is excellent for those that are troubled with the gout and the herb taken anyway inwardly is of great comfort to the stomach."

And we thought it was just pretty and smelled good.

If you read Beth's book, you'll learn a great deal about plants you may have thought only decorative or even a nuisance. She invites readers to "Journey back to the days when herbs figured into every facet of this realm and protection from evil in all its guises."

The book is available in print and e-book. Buy link is http://amzn.com/B00IOGHYVU

Photos from free commons

One of My Book Characters Dragged Me to RWA

By Vonnie Davis

Well, dear readers, here I am in the Big Apple--aching arms, swollen feet, overwhelmed senses and all. I've just survived my first time at a Romance Writers of America Conference. This year, it was held in New York City where taxi drivers only need two things: strong brakes and loud horns. They don't need to know how to count since they're zooming five-abreast on a four-lane street. Nor do they need driver's licenses.

Okay, I may have exaggerated with that remark. But let me tell you, they've got plenty of hootzpa (did I spell that correctly?). My feet swell when I travel, and I was having a hard time getting into an SUV taxi. It was easy for Calvin with his long legs, but my shorter, chubbier ones were struggling. The driver cupped my big behind and all but tossed me into the back seat. Then had the nerve to add $1.50 to our bill for "extra handling."

Crowds aren't my thing. Paris is as busy as I like. NYC surpasses that, by far. So why did I come? Effie made me. She wanted to meet the editor at Random House who thought I should tone down her existence in my third Highlander shifter book. She's a mess, Effie is. To say she's a pistol wouldn't do her justice.

Strange how I've written a series of contemporary Scottish romances, and the most popular character is a pink-haired grandma who wears pink pelican bedroom slippers. Yes--hangs head--that's me, trying to pull off Effie at my signing.

 

 

I felt rather insignificant among the "big name" authors. I mean, who am I? My nerves got the better of me before we left Virginia. How could I ever stand out? Effie shoulder bumped me. "Buy a cheap pink wig, make some pelican slippers, and I'll just show ya." Sometimes it's good to listen to your characters. Sometimes, it's not...

 

 

People flocked to me. I suppose they figured if I was crazy enough to dress like this, I must write a doozy of a story. Effie had a ball. I'm glad she did...she dragged me here.



WHEN REALITY MIXES WITH FICTION

By Brenda Daniels

My current work in progress is a historical set in Colorado in the late 1800's.  Yes, I know I was writing a contemporary mystery, but that one had to be set aside for a while. (Painted myself in a corner.)

I based the fictional town of Bear Paw on the real town of Lake City. I've vacationed there several times, so the place is at least familiar. It's a pretty little place in a valley with a beautiful lake. A lot of Texans own shops there, so the local population has a love-hate relationship with us. Bring money, but leave. I'm ok with that. Winters there are too cold for me anyway.

As I said, the town is small, but full of history. Zane Grey mentioned it in one of his western novels and their one dubious claim to fame is Alfred Packer. In the winter of 1873-74 he guided five men bound for the gold fields in Breckenridge, CO. They were warned not to go into the mountains, but decided to try anyway. 

After a couple of months, Mr. Packer showed up at an Indian agency quite healthy looking for someone who claimed to have survived on rabbits and vegetation in the wilderness. The truth was pretty gruesome. Somehow, the other men died and he ate them. His story changed a couple of times, so no one is certain of the truth except, he did admit to cannibalism.  He served 18 years in prison. So much for peaceful, country living.

I'm NOT writing anything about Alfred. I just thought the town history was interesting. Don't worry. You can go back to eating barbecue ribs.

My heroine is a young widow from New York City. Terrible things happen to her and she has to decide whether to remain in Bear Paw or to take her child and leave for the relative safety of a large city. 

Part of the plot includes the legend of a Spanish gold mine hidden in the mountains. Imagine my surprise finding that the legend really does exist. While verifying events in Colorado, I came across the legend of Spanish monks and conquistadors discovering a mine and enslaving Indians as workers. 

Sometimes reality really is stranger than fiction. History if full of little details that often get overlooked. Isn't it wonderful?

What comes next

The book is finished. Big sigh of relief/joy/angst/sorrow/satisfaction! 

Not so fast! Then comes the time when many writers cringe-- promotion. I am sure there are writers where promotion is pleasurable. However, for others, it's like pulling teeth—you know it has to be done, but you don’t like doing it. 

I didn't find a definitive answer for how many eBooks are on Amazon but some suggest as many as 5 million. For any new book, the easiest thing to happen is dropping into Amazon's black hole and staying there. Avoiding that fate involves not just the quality of the book but of its promotion. Promotion begins with a cover, title and blurb—not necessarily in that order. 

For my fifth Arizona historical, the title search was complicated by needing it to feel right for the series, stay true to its own story, and work with the next two books. For weeks, I'd go to sleep and wake up thinking of word combinations. When finally I had that eureka moment, it seemed so obvious that I wondered why I'd never seen it before. The realization was helped by having found the cover image first. Images inspire words. In this case, I got lucky with the expressions on their faces where she is going within for dreams and meaning, while he's looking out into the world for the danger he is expecting.

So many things happen in a novel. How does one compress them in a few paragraphs for the blurb? I found no way to mention that the story brings back Arizona Sunset's Rykers, as secondary characters. Abby and Sam are among my favorite characters; so having them along with their offspring was fun for me as a writer. There was a problem though. Whenever Sam Ryker is in a book, he tends to take it over-- luckily the powerful and complex Vince Taggert is up to the challenge.

Sticking to the two main characters for the blurb, I worked for another week or more with words that always ended up feeling pedestrian. It was not until I was putting together the back cover, that the image of the couple revealed the crux of their problem. The past was haunting them both but in different ways.

Blurb for Echoes from the Past

They had absolutely no reason to be together, nothing in common-- except, oh maybe a few past lives where the passion was sizzling. There was a minor complication—he always ended up dead. Pure coincidence. Couldn’t happen again. Her fear that it could led her to try to convince him not to come with her on a potentially dangerous archaeological investigation to Central Arizona, a place where one of those lives had been haunting her dreams since she was thirteen.

He knew, given his experiences, there were many ways a man could end up dead, and he wasn’t about to worry about dreams with no real bullets. He did know, however, that she could prove dangerous to him. He had never walked away from danger before and wasn’t about to now.

1901, a new century and things should be less wild and woolly in Arizona. Very civilized, with only an occasional nightly shootout. Much safer—for some. Not so much for the son of an infamous outlaw family, who was falling in love with the one woman from whom he should have stayed many miles away. Shoulds weren’t in his vocabulary.

This western adventure takes two unlikely lovers from Tucson, north into the Sierra Ancha, where answers and danger await. As the fifth Arizona historical, long-time readers will find some familiar characters. This is the first romance for the Taggert brothers-- Vince, Jesse, and Cole.

Some strong language and mild profanity

Heat level: ♥♥♥♥

Echoes from the Past: pre-release sale-- $2.99
Delivered August 5, 2015 when it will go to 3.99

Posters are another way to promote books and show the connection when they are in a series. Although the next three Arizona historicals books will be sharing some secondary characters, as well as settings, they can be read alone. There are no cliff hangers.

TEXAS ROOTS by Sandra Nachlinger

Do you enjoy going back your roots? I do! These days, I live in the Pacific Northwest, but I was born and raised in Dallas, and my parents and three of my four grandparents were native Texans. Those roots run deep. Whenever possible I return to North Texas to soak up the wide open spaces, visit friends and family, and revive my accent. Here are a few photos from my recent visit with a friend in Pottsboro, a small town near the Texas-Oklahoma border that inspired the setting for BLUEBONNETS FOR ELLY.  
[click on photos to enlarge]

Pottsboro has doubled in size
since my parents had a cabin
on nearby Lake Texoma

Stop by Mom's Cafe for a bargain meal...

Or grab a plate of Pop's chicken fried steak
with a side of fried okra and a big glass of
sweet iced tea, if the cafe isn't too crowded.

I wonder what this building once housed.
Was it a general store, its shelves filled with skillets,
gingham fabric, lanterns, and other necessities?

Called a "tank" or "stock tank," this oasis sure
looks welcoming on a hot July day.

I didn't expect to see buffalo grazing along
this Farm-to-Market road.

The characters in BLUEBONNETS FOR ELLY drove their pickup trucks through these gentle hills near Lake Texoma, basked in the hot summer sun, and made love where “the stars at night are big and bright.” I hope you enjoyed today's visit to their world.

Sandra Nachlinger is the author of Bluebonnets for Elly (a sweet romance) and 

co-author with Sandra Allen of I.O.U. Sex (a spicy Baby Boomer romance).

A LITTLE ABOUT ME AND MY BOOKS

by:

I'm a sixth generation Texan on my mother's side. My ancestors helped to settle Dallas in 1845 and stayed in the area. I am proud to be a member of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

Matelyn Gloria Roddy and Phillip Arthur Carr met in Dallas in the summer 1942. She was 14 and he was a much older man of 18. They dated, with my grandmother's permission, until he enlisted in the Army in February 1943. A very determined young girl, my mother boarded the train a few days after her 15th birthday and headed  for North Carolina to say, "I do".

Matelyn and Phil Carr c.1943

Gloria Lynn Carr (Cope) aka Carra Copelin about 9 months old in this snap.
I'm proud to say I've managed to maintain my girlish figure. 

I came to Dallas on December 6, 1947 at 11:55 am, via Florence Nightingale Hospital.

My first abode - 1022 Kings Highway

My parents lived with her family in a beautiful old home in Oak Cliff, a suburb of Dallas.

Mother and Daddy bought their first house in 1951, in the newer neighborhood, where my brother made his appearance in 1952. We lived there until 1956 when we moved to the little town of Arlington. My dad wanted his children raised away from the big city.

Carra in 3rd grade

 I attended school there from 2nd grade through the 12th and graduated from Sam Houston High School.  

Jerry Cope about 10 months

Now, oddly enough, I met my future husband, Jerry Cope, at the local A&P Grocery in 1966 and as folks do we got to talking. He was born at Florence Nightingale Hospital, lived in Oak Cliff and moved to Arlington in 1953. Turns out we've always lived within five miles of each other.

Jerry in 3rd grade

Jerry and I married in May, 1967 and started building our home in 1969, in Arlington. Where else? It remains our home today.

Our daughter, Amye, came along in 1972 on Thanksgiving morning and our son, Brady, was born in 1976 in the Bicentennial year. 

I worked as a Medical Laboratory Technologist from 1965 (I did start in high school) until the clinic I worked for sold the lab in 2008. Since Jerry was already retired, I decided to stay home, too. Why should he have all the fun?

Writing became my focus and my first book, Code of Honor, Texas Code Series, Book One ,was published in July 2013. Three other titles followed with a fifth due out soon. I'm a member of RWA and serve as President of Yellow Rose Romance Writers.

Jerry and I this past summer on our Arkansas vacation.

I enjoy getting together with friends, critique partners and my bridge group. Our grandkids come over frequently, oh and Jerry is now a chicken farmer. He has twelve chickens out back in their area we call, Cackleberry Farms. Save your cartons, we have plenty of eggs.

Angel and the Texan from County Cork, a novella, is the third book in the Brides of Texas Code Series. It will be available on Amazon Kindle and Apple iBooks in August.

Blurb:

 Jamey O'Donnell has reached a crossroads in his life. It's time to make his own way and stop living off the charity of others, specifically from his brother-in-law, Ian Benning. Off to find his new life, Jamey stops to help an old friend only to find out the friend has been killed. Can he help the widow restart her life and then walk away? Will he be able to ignore the newly awakened emotions she brings to the surface?

Angel Rivers buried her first husband on the trail after a short three month marriage. Now, one year later, her second husband, Will, has been shot and killed leaving her to fend for herself, to work a ranch with little to no knowledge. When the stranger shows up in her barn on the coldest day she's ever experienced, can she trust that he's her husband's friend and not a henchman sent by her neighbor? The same one she suspects of the killing? Will she embrace her bad luck in marriage and bury the feelings stirred by the stranger to live a life alone?

Hugs, 

Carra

Find me: Carra Copelin Website, Carra's Blog , Carra's FB page , Carra's Twitter Page

Book One, Katie and the Irish Texan is available at Amazon:

 http://www.amazon.com/Katie-Irish-Texan-Brides-Texas-ebook/dp/B00LD0XRPG/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1437200392&sr=1-1&keywords=carra+copelin

Book Two, Matelyn and the Texas Ranger is available at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Matelyn-Texas-Ranger-Brides-Code-ebook/dp/B00R0OA99Q/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1437200392&sr=1-3&keywords=carra+copelin

 

Freaky Fun Facts by Joan Reeves

History is full of quirky little facts. In Heat Lightning, my most recent book--available for pre-order even as we speak--the heroine entertains the hero with the story of how the vacuum cleaner came to be invented.

I found it interesting so I hope that bit of trivia educates and entertains readers too.

I like to toss in entertaining tidbits in my books by adding a little quirk to a character so it's actually the character tossing in those tidbits. It's kind of fun, you know?

Outlaw Ridge, Texas

Heat Lightning is the first novella in the Outlaw Ridge, Texas series. In the second book, Heat Wave, Mercy, the heroine, is a history teacher so I'm having loads of fun finding quirky historical facts that she breathlessly spouts when she's trying to avoid the hero's seduction. (Why avoid it? Well, that's part of the story of course.)

It seems most people--who aren't historical authors--think history is a bore. I've often thought that's because of the way history is taught with an emphasis on dates and who did what and when. But history is just the adventurous exploits of the famous and infamous. Television writers seem to know this. They're doing a great job of bringing the Revolutionary War to life with series such as Sons of Liberty and Turn. (Hey, if the "Skin-emax" treatment gets people interested in history, it's all good.)

Freaky Facts

Here are a few things I learned in gathering oddball historical tidbits. Enjoy!

• On this day in 1439, Kissing was officially banned in England in an effort stop disease from spreading. Bet the whole nation became a bunch of lawbreakers.
• In 1912, a Paris orphanage held a raffle to raise money and gave away live babies as prizes!
• John F. Kennedy, Anthony Burgess, Aldous Huxley, and C.S. Lewis all died on the same day.
• Karl Marx was once a correspondent for the New York Daily Tribune.
• Ronald Reagan was a lifeguard during high school and saved 77 people’s lives.
• The Aztecs made human sacrifices. In 1487, 20,000 people were sacrificed at the dedication of the temple in Tenochtitlan.
• The Romans used human urine as mouthwash.
• In the 19th century a popular medicine for kids was Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup which included morphine.
• In early Rome a father could legally kill anyone in his family.
• In colonial America, pregnant women were not given anything to relieve the pain of childbirth because pain was considered God’s punishment for Eve’s eating the forbidden fruit.
• Attila the Hun bled to death from a nosebleed on his wedding night.
• People have been wearing glasses for about 700 years.
• February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
• There is no known civilization that did not tax. Even the very first known civilization, the Sumerians, recorded their tax history on clay cones.

You wouldn't believe the historical facts about people murdered by various world leaders since the beginning of time!

Next time your kid bemoans history, throw a few fun facts at them. Maybe it will interest them in the underlying drama that is history.

Joan Reeves, is a bestselling author of Contemporary Romance. Her next release, only 99cents on pre-order is Heat Lightning. Available as ebooks and audiobooks, her romance novels all have the same underlying theme: “It’s never too late to live happily ever after.” Joan lives her happily ever after with her husband in the Lone Star State. Sign up for WordPlay, Joan's free email list for readers: http://eepurl.com/Yk61n.

FINALLY and At last.....

Hi, everyone...

DESIRED, Book 1 of Miranda's Chronicles is finally loaded onto Amazon and will be officially for sale on August 4th.

It can be pre-ordered for a limited time for 99-cents at Amazon.  So far, it's garnered two 4-star reviews from reviewers at Net Galley.

 I think I've posted the blurb before, but here it is again:

Miranda March wears her extraordinary beauty like a mask to conceal her emotional vulnerability. A successful small businesswoman, she might appear to be in control of her universe, but ever in the back of her mind is the one thing that can yank the rug out from under her at any moment: Her mother who suffers from mental illness.

Enter handsome, sensual—and rich—Harvey (Tack) Tackett, a friend of a friend, in town overnight on business. The instant they meet, Miranda feels a connection that stirs her to break one of the rules she lives by—no foolish flings with men passing in the night. After a night of passionate lovemaking like she’s never known, profound emotions emerge. She believes the feeling is mutual. But Tack leaves town without so much as a call and she hears no more from him. As she struggles to overcome her disappointment, she learns her mother has sunk into a depression that calls for immediate attention. Miranda has no choice but to move Mom in to live with her. Her life will never be the same.

From out of the blue, Tack reappears. But it’s too late. Miranda is committed to her duty to her mother. Trying to have a romantic relationship with Tack or any man would be as hard as mixing oil and water. She has already tried and failed at that. Can she solve the conundrum and find a happy-ever-after with Tack?

The mental illness from which Miranda's mother suffers is bipolar disorder and alcoholism. I don't delve into it deeply because it's a short book and I'm no expert on mental illness. Although I have known a couple of people personally who have had this affliction. I've seen first-hand that not only is it hard on the sufferer, it's hard on everyone around him/her.

It was a fun book to write. It's only a little fewer than 40,000 words. Compared to the tomes I've written in the past, it's a diary entry. It's also a little steamier than the books I've previously written, but no doubt there are those who might not see much difference. LOL

Let me know what you think....

Discovering Where You Live by Paty Jager #history

Last summer about this time we accepted an offer on our place in central Oregon and started hauling the rest of our stuff to our property in eastern Oregon. We have a new house(still needs siding) and my husband started a new job that he loves. Now that we are getting settled, I've started exploring the area and its history.

I'm discovering stories and areas that I'm pretty sure will have to end up in a historical western book down the road. One of my favorite places that we drive by every time we make the 40 mile trip to town is Lawen. All that exists of it now is a large building with the word Lawen on the side of it. You can tell it was a store and perhaps a gas station at one time.

I found a book in the Harney County library that is called: A Lively Little History of Harney County. At the time the book was published the say a post office and gas station is all that remains of Lawen. This book was published in 1989.

According to the book in the 1880's the area around was highly sought after by homesteaders and squatters because of it's lush meadow land on the edge of Malheur Lake. The original town was located 2 1/2 miles south of the current location. The post office was established in 1887. The town had a population of 100 at one time and several businesses.

An account by a woman who grew up in the area said the children walked, rode horses, and ice skated to school.  She could skate from her back door to the school yard fence. Their favorite winter pastimes were skating parties, potluck suppers, and dances at the schoolhouse.

Another remembers arriving in Lawen in 1898 and thinking it was a big settlement with 45 students in the school. At that time Lawen had two stores, a dance hall and saloon, livery stable, a drug store, a blacksmith shop, a hotel, and Harney County's first female doctor. She also operated a health resort and swimming pool at Crane hot springs.

Most fo the clothing was sewn at home and washed on a washboard. about ten miles down the road is Crane Hot springs. When the women were looking for a treat while doing the laundry they would haul their tubs, washboards, and clothing to Crane hots springs and wash the clothes. They say the clothing seemed whiter and brighter after being washed in the mineral water.

The water from the hot springs was cooled in long ditches so the livestock could drink it.

I have a feeling the hot springs and the town of Lawen is going to be showing up in one of the stories in my next historical western romance series. I've already started formulating the letter in my head that will bring the hero to the area.

How often do you see a place or hear about it and your mind automatically begins formulating a story to go with it?

www.patyjager.net
Writing into the Sunset 
Goodreads

Books and Playlists

While you read, do you listen to music? 

I listen to music while I write. I create playlists and radio stations for each novel. I jot down the major songs that really stick with me.

For those readers who enjoy it, I try to share those playlists soon after the book is released. Just another fun way for readers to connect to the characters. By no means is this a way of endorsing a particular music artist or album, but just trying to add to the experience of the story and characters.

As a reader, do you appreciate when authors share their playlists?

A quick search on YouTube for popular book series reveals there are literally hundreds of custom playlists created by readers and fans. Crossfire Series for Sylvia Day, the Twilight series for Stephanie Meyer, and The Iron Fey series from Julie Kagawa all have fan-inspired playlists.

I’ve always enjoyed it when the authors I love create one for their novels. I feel like I connect to their tone/theme better.

It's a lot of work, but so worth it to me.

For Prince of Solana, there were several songs that really struck a chord with me while I wrote.

I incorporated those into my own personal playlist. Feel free to listen and enjoy!

Chapter 1 –  On The Long Way Down by Robert Delong

Chapter 2 – Vide Cor Meum by Patrick Cassidy

Chapter 3 – RedHands by REVO (Walk Off the Earth)

Chapter 4 – Who You Love by Katy Perry & John Mayer

Chapter 6 – Howl by Florence & The Machine

Chapter 7 – My Fault by Imagine Dragons

Chapter 8 – Sweet Disposition by Temper Trap

Chapter 13 – I’m Sending You Away (Oblivion Soundtrack)

Chapter 16 – One Last Night by Vaults

Chapter 19 –Undimmed by Time, Unbound by Death (Oblivion Soundtrack)

Chapter 20 –Demons by Imagine Dragons

Chapter 21 –Insatiable by Darren Hayes

Chapter 22 –When A Heart Breaks by Ben Rector

Chapter 24 – Fearful Odds (Oblivion Soundtrack)

Chapter 25 –New Mexico by Edward Shearmur

Chapter 26 –Iridescent by Linkin Park

Chapter 27 –Raven Rock (Oblivion Soundtrack)

Chapter 28 – Cut by Plumb

Chapter 30 – Sail by AwolNation

Chapter 31 –Secret by Ocean Lab

Chapter 32 –Waking Up (Oblivion Soundtrack)

Chapter 33 – You Can’t Save Her (Oblivion Soundtrack)

Chapter 34 –Heart of Courage by Two Steps From Hell

Chapter 35 – Warriors by Imagine Dragons

Chapter 37 –Gravity by Sara Bareilles

Chapter 38 – Kissing by Bliss