This book of poetry is luscious, rich with words and resplendent with photographs.It inspired me to draw.
Sister Songs
This was the first poem that I remembered when I finished reading the book. It’s not long, and Merril was kind enough to send us a recording of her reciting it. So, let’s listen to it, instead of reading it!
I sent a few photos of the drawing, to Merril. Photos of art are difficult to take. They never look exactly like they do in real life, they change with the light.
Merril – It’s gorgeous in any light! Thank you so much!
Merril -One thing–that you could not possibly know–for me, the poem has three figures. That’s just me, and of course, you wouldn’t know that. [My younger sister, my niece who is like my sister, and I spent a lot of time caring for and coordinating the care for my mom.]
Resa – That’s …. beautiful. Your mom was so loved.
Time – Passing, Cycling, Enduring
This next drawing is representative of many poems in the book. Merril depicts time through nature; its seasons changing, dying and renewal, family generations, birds, waves, clouds, storms coming… going.
In this regard, she speaks much of the beauty of life. To depict that, I have drawn a beautiful woman, in an earthy gown. The gown turns into an upside down tree. Its branches depict the changing seasons, time.
Question for everyone! I’d love to see some answers in comments.
Spontaneously – What is the colour that comes to your mind when I say TIME?
Think more about it! – Now what colours do you see?
Merril – Well, you’d probably guess that I said blue.
Resa – Yes…I did figure blue!
Merril – Then I see blue–various shades, ombre kind of thing– then darkening with shimmery stars and pops of red and yellow–like space. Like a movie of space.
Resa – I asked a good friend. He said blue. Then, a few moments later he blurted out, green. Later he said he saw time as a sandy colour… not quite gold, but earthy.
Merril – I get what he said, too. I like that his changes, too, because time moves.
Clasped and Cradled
(inspired by “French Lavender Head,” an art piece by Karen Pierce Gonzalez)
In her hands-jolts of electric blue-- The incense of ocean and earth, lavender and brine, seaweed and peat. A pop of red chilies, some saffron, spring greens, roses-- this is my world, she thinks, clutches it tighter.
Resa – To me, a fascination lies in “art inspiring art”. In the case of “French Lavender Head”, the art inspired a poem, then the poem inspired art. It’s cycling:Art to poetry to art.
Merril – I like the idea of circling inspiration–art to poetry to art. Isn’t that the way? We’re all inspired by what we see, hear, smell, taste, read about. . .and then each individual interprets these things, that then get reinterpreted, and on and on.
Stormy Spirit Conundrum
The first image I drew was this flying woman against an unknown mystery background. It’s inspired by a feel in the book, and of specific lines, but not any 1 poem.
but my ancestors spread wings that covered centuries to catch me, guide me,
You can, they said, as they showed me that I have my own wings- unfold them, fly. This, too, is part of the pattern.
I took the shot on a cloudy day and closed the aperture to get a mystery feel.
Crushed beneath an un-mooned sky black shapes drift inside of grey
who finally see the shadows like storm clouds-and the bitter rain, a tidal surge,
Then I thought, but it’s too dark. People will get the wrong impression. After all, there’s lots of light in this book.
There are days I want to remember I-we- are made of starry specks, stellar dust, and feel the light we carry within.
So, I opened the aperture on a sunny day, and took more pics. Nothing seemed like “stellar dust”, so I did editing until:
Then I thought, “that’s not it either.” Having taken shots in different light, then editing all the different shots… I ended up with a couple dozen different versions of the same drawing.
Then I realized why I couldn’t get a grip! Time slips through our fingers. Only time can hold time, within its folds.
CHANGING SPIRIT OF FLYING WOMAN SLIDESHOW
Psychedelic Spirit
Blue Spirit
Periwinkle spirit
Sun Spirit
Iced Spirit
Warm Spirit
In the Mood Spirit
Natural Spirit
Dark Spirit
Time moves on, and things keep changing, changing, changing…. That is why my flying woman kept changing. She’s flowing with the spirit of this book.
About Merril D. Smith
To learn more about this amazing writer & poet, just click on her pic below and go to her website.
As a huge fan of Shehanne Moore’s spirited, independent female characters in her period romance novels, this book has been long awaited.
“If it is worth having, it is worth waiting for.” –Oscar Wilde
The “Nicking Coat”
Oppressed & beaten by a beastly husband (Baronet Byron Jones), Lady Jones flees. To afford her vagabond lifestyle, she engages in petty thievery, lying, sleeping in forests and dealing with the less than savoury.
I now realize the hat is scripted black.
As she uses her coat like a tote bag for her nicked loot, I figured a man’s frock coat would have large pockets and the roominess required.
Shehanne – I just love the coat and hat. So her. I do love you calling her coat the ‘nicking coat.’ The woman lived rough for a bit.
Resa – Then one day, she haps upon a deserted cottage; where Gil Wryson haps upon her.
Shehanne – And that was it, but she had to like the wee life she’d set up for herself in Pencliff enough not to bolt and go back to the awfulness of life on the road. AND everything…even the way the mail worked and money worked with regard to banks in these days– all the things that made her life so difficult on the run– fitted..
The Ball& the Gown
In terms of defining what Eternity might wear, I looked at the out going Georgian era and the incomingRegency era.
Resa – I was tortured waiting! Was the ball in, or out? Why did you end up putting the Ball in, and how did it serve the story?
Shey – … Okay Resa, well the simple answer to why I put it in, having decided for her to leave beforehand, is YOU. Yeah, there you go. I thought about the fact that I’ve a ball or a dance/party, or a feast/dance in quite a few books and these are tied with pivotal moments in the plot.
I also thought if she leaves after saying she’s going, then he is going to find it hard to forgive her–they have somehow come together in the planning and prep for this ball. And she has a huge reason to quit while she’s ahead here in terms of news she gets that very day. But then I thought of you and the beautiful gowns you have designed for my ladies down the years and I thought what is a book without a ball and what is a ball without one of your gowns?
My first thought of the ball gown.
Shehanne -I also thought when it comes to Wryson ever forgiving her, when it comes to her thinking, she just might have got something in the bag, with regard to ‘the future?’ Him too. ’Well? That ball then sets up everything in terms of her state of mind as she goes to tackle what she must tackle. It paves the way for how she is only paying half attention to what she really needs to have her eyes fully on because she’s let something into her life she can’t let in.
Shehanne – It let me trowel on a bit of passion and anguish and quite a mess, shall we say, regarding what happens next? Things she feels responsible for, secrets she is going to have to keep, things about herself, she doesn’t know she can overcome. SO yeah, I think sticking to my original plan would have been wishy washy.
Resa – When her ball gown was first spotted in Gonetta’s, before I read on to any description of the gown, I immediately saw the green one in my mind.
Shehanne – OOOOHHHHHH… the one Wryson had to pay from Gonetta’s cos she’d have nicked it otherwise.
Resa – YES, the one Wryson pays for – BUT – it is the image I got in my mind (being a costume designer) before I got to the parts where you describe the gown – a backless cream gown. . Can you believe how different our visions are? What do you think about that?
Shehanne – I think it is great actually that the visions were different. It said to me that you were really picturing her–and green is a noted color she wears. I imagined she was drawn to the shop and it reminded her of past balls, even if the main one she remembers was the night she got pitched into a Turkey oak, after first chucking herself at the man she loved.
--this is backstory before Wryson lands on her doorstep--
It reminded her of not living hand to mouth on the road. So she wandered in and got herself a fitting with the intention of dancing on her own in Dark Falls--which we know she does-- in that gown.
Alas it defied her nicking abilities. But she probably told herself she could maybe nick the dosh. She’s very good at NOT getting things done too. But being her she probably got fitted for more than one.
So it was kind of deliberate on my part not to describe the gown at that point, because she is also capable of going there and nicking some other gown off a rail of made but not paid for gowns.
Resa – I honestly like your gown better. What do you think about that?
Shehanne – What can I say but awwww…. truly, and you know a description can always be changed in a book.
Resa – Well, I am thrilled you had a ball. It is a pivotal bit, and if it was a movie, the big money beauty scene. Of course the carriage bit is the big money stunt scene.
Shehanne – Alas, I always see book scenes as movies. One of my fav freelance regular writing gigs ever was for girl’s comics for DC Thomsons. YOU HAD TO WRITE IN STORYBOARDS. YES!! So many frames per episode, dialogue/thoughts and instructions to the artist only on each frame. Always end with a cliff hanger.
Back in London
Resa – Here are the drawings, for court & carriage! The full skirt outfit would have already been in her closet before she escaped. The other, would be a new dress, the latest Regency fashion.
Shehanne – Yes, I forgot she has a fancy new coat for the court scene, her ‘other’ fellah having had enough of her special one.
Shehanne – It is what I imagined… Fashionable, dressy because she would need to be both and not look like a ragbag.. There is the bit about Billy having taken her famous coat —obvi she left the cottage in that coat and he would have seen to it that she got some decent clothes in London. And yes the first would have been the kind of dress she’d have worn to balls before and during Byron.
Inspirations
Resa – So I was inspired to draw Eternity in a metaphoric sense. I had thought “Hair of flames” because what comes out of her mind and mouth is so fiery, literally, but this came out of me. Did I capture her in that metaphoric sense?
Shehanne – You have captured her perfectly. You always have the sense of my ladies but she’s off the scale in many ways.
She’s wild, she’s free, she’s guarded, she’s bruised, she’s moody, she’s mouthy. She walks tightropes when it comes to functioning. She is her own worst enemy, Above all else she is a survivor and it has been of some horrific things. She is really very difficult and you have amazingly captured all of that. Wryson is of course not in the best of places himself, but even if he was he’d still be emotionally confused by her.
Resa – You recently posted about Mary Eleanor Bowes, the great-great-great-great-grandmother of Queen Elizabeth the Second. At 11, she was left the richest heiress in England, between 80 and 120 million in today’s terms. Twice married, she was beaten, burned and more by her husbands.
Shehanne – I thought I’d blog a little of some of the inspirations cos I started as I aye do, with no plot just the idea of picking up the woman who makes a very fleeting, at a distance, appearance in “O’Roarke’s Destiny” and setting her in an abandoned house cos I love abandoned houses.
“Suppose she is sitting there and passing herself off as whatever and then Wryson turns up and says it’s his house,” I thought. Then I obvi had to suss it out from there and I also thought at that point of the dreadful hubby and the unhappy countess.
Shehanne – Despite a descendant marrying into royalty and giving birth to Elizabeth 2nd, the story is not THAT well known. But it is interesting on so many levels. I primarily used the violent hubby because I needed a reason for Lyon to have a hold on her.
Resa – You built a strong, feisty female character, in a time where women had no rights. It’s inspirational.
Shehanne– You are right re: the lack of rights. I gather that Mary was not sympathized with because of the lovers, because of a lot of things she did and it was something that she actually got a ruling in her favor.
About Shehanne Moore
“I christen all my characters with care. I actually love thinking of what their name is going to be.“
Is free will a reality, or a figment of our imaginations?
Diana says it’s “nefarious”. I agree! The masses are unconsciously being influenced by a powerful few, in “Catling’s Bane”.
Resa – “Influencers”- Did you make that up when you wrote the book? It’s a huge internet term now.
Diana – I used the term “influencers” in my book before it became so strongly identified with the internet. Sigh. If I were writing the story today, I would have found a different word.
I suppose my influencers are similar to internet influencers, except in my story the victims of influence don’t have a choice about their emotions being swayed. In both cases, the purpose of influence is to make someone feel a certain way and do what you want them to do.
Resa – I figured you came up with “influencers” before the term became a big deal. I can understand it ticks you off that it has become such an over used term, but in my mind it makes you somewhat prophetic. That is very cool.
Diana – Oh, the tattoo is gorgeous, and I love the photo with the slanted sunlight through your window. How artsy and gorgeous.
Resa – Yay! I believe it is correct to say no Luminescence tattoos means no power of Influence?
Diana – Yes, that’s correct, mostly. Tattooing is how luminescence enters the bodies of the influencers. and the tattoos are designed to precisely measure and inject the different colors/powers.
But that’s not the only way luminescence can enter a body. Catling’s initial strange power to block influence enters when her mother attempts to scrape the birthmark off her face and her pain is smoothed with river water. Raker gains his version of influence when an enforcer gouges out his eye and he falls in the river.
Resa – I drew Catling’s face at puberty, just before Vianne begins the transformation. She would still be living with Whitt and the family. I made her hair free, somewhat unkempt feeling.
Diana- It’s perfect! That’s just how I saw her, hair and all. I always saw her as a wispy little girl, and you captured that impression well. And fabulous job on the eye. A birthmark that looks like a rose (sort of) is a tough draw.
Because of her eye, I was never able to find a good image of her when I was writing. So she stayed mostly in my head. I like those pretty fairy lips. It’s lovely to see her come to life.
Resa – Catling has begun studying under Vianne. She is about 13 1/2. Taking bits from the book, this drawing happened. A pink jacket is mentioned earlier, boots later on. She is all prim and proper, pearl buttons and tatted lace on a white blouse.
However, some tendrils have escaped her braid, which is spread on top of her head. There is an incident with Kadan bullying Catling. Vianne comments on Catling looking disheveled.
Resa – This one is just before the tattooing. She is 15 going on 16. I grew her up. She’s been through a lot.
A red flared waist jacket is scripted around that time. Red is a good grow up from pink. This is just before her head gets shaved. Here she has taken her braid down. I wanted to show the passing of time by how much her locks had grown.
Diana -The drawings are wonderful. And I can see how you “grew Catling up.” I love the choices – the pink and red, and the braid up earlier and down later. It’s super fun to see how you interpret the character and her appearance (like a costume designer for a show!).
A major player in this book is Vianne. She is one of the most important “influencers”.
Resa – I drew Vianne’s face to start. For some reason I thought she was in her mid-late 30’s? Beautiful, but angular, sharp features, thin eyebrows are pretty, but unfriendly. She’s overly well kept, like her secrets.
Diana – Oh, Resa, that’s beautiful. Her face is just how I picture her, and her focused expression is perfect. She’s beautiful and meticulous about her appearance, but so driven by her purpose that beauty is more about power and status than femininity. Does that make sense? And you’re right – she’s around mid-thirties.
Resa – I keep seeing Vianne in longer skirts, regal, imposing. Her outfits are trimmed in her tatting.
Diana – Yes, she would be wearing her lace, and she’s very elegant and regal in bearing.
Lounging around her apartment
Resa – Why did you choose whites & pearls for Vianne’s palette?. I saw icy blue under her jacket mentioned, but it only serves to accentuate the whites.
Diana – Vianne wears a lot of white and off-white. Colors are important in this story, and Vianne prefers white for its purity and neutrality. Though she does terrible things (like torture), she believes her motivations are selfless and pure. The ends justify the means with Vianne right up to her end later in the series.
Evening attire
Resa – Could she have any Farlander blood in her ancestry?
Diana – No, she wouldn’t. The inhabitants of the cities are human, the descendants of colonists who came to this planet so long ago that they’ve forgotten most of their history, replacing it with a myth about the founders.
The original people of the planet, the Farlanders, are still around – relegated to the swamps and the far north. They are humanoid but taller and longer-limbed, and they have patterns of green spots on their skin related to the luminescence.
Business attire
There is a Princess, Lelaine, in the story. Introduced late in this first book of “The Rose Shield” series, not much is known. She is 17, and from what I took away has some royal smarts.
Resa – I began with an at home daytime outfit.
Diana- That’s perfect for Lelaine, Resa. I always pictured her as a fairytale princess without the fairytale life. It’s quite a tragic tale in the end. You captured her beauty, youth, and worldly poise.
Resa – Here’s Lelaine in a horse riding outfit. In the book, the king is in a blue robe, so I’ve made blue the royal colour.
Diana – And Lelaine in her riding attire is perfect. I’m looking forward to seeing her in her formal gown.
Resa – Here’s her all out princess ball gown.
Diana- And Lelaine looks like the princess she is, so … perfect!
As they are a key to the power, I’m most curious about the tattoos of the “Influencers”, and want to know more.
Resa – Are the tattoos are luminescent?
Diana – Oooh, good question. Though the colors used to create the Influencer tattoos are distilled from the world’s bioluminescence, I never pictured the tattoos as glowing. That said, they aren’t the flat colors of modern-day ink, and they don’t fade or become muted over time. I see them as quite vibrant.
Resa – Knives, needles and mallets are used to carve and etch the skin? Are the mallets for driving in the needles? Or is the mallet for pounding to soften lines?
Diana – Yes. I did some research into ancient/primitive tattoo methods, which are still in use in many parts of the world today. Knives, needles, and mallets are all part of the process. Aside from the pain of the cuts and punctures, she has to deal with the emotional impact of each color of luminescence.
The mallets are used for driving in multiple needles at a time. In these cases, the needles are set into various sizes of wooden blocks or paddles, sort of like a wire scrub brush. With one whack of the mallet, multiple needles penetrate the skin. It’s a lot faster than one stab at a time.
Resa – The colours are absorbed into the cuts and etchings by the coloured luminescent baths? (A sort of tie dye type of tattooing?)
Diana – Yes, exactly. One color is absorbed at a time and in a specific sequence.
Resa – Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet are the colours of the luminescence. These are the colours of the spectrum, minus indigo. Did you do this on purpose?
Diana – Well, I wanted to limit the colors to six! One had to go, and indigo was nixed. The six remaining colors represent the six motivators that in various combinations account for human behaviour: Love, fear, pain, pleasure, death, and life. So yes, in a way this was purposeful.
The tattoos are beautiful and fanciful, but they needn’t be. The design is based on the artistry of the needler. Since each color represents a base emotion and is part of the world’s power system, they’re distinct/separate when applied to an influencer’s body. When the tattoos are healed, the influencer can use each color/emotion individually to bend another person’s emotions, or they can blend them to get a unique emotional response. Blending is part of the influencer’s training, and Catling will learn those skills in Book 2.
Resa -“Woad” … Am I right in thinking you use this word for “Tattoo”?
Diana – Woad, the way I use it, is more based on the fantasy (quasi-Celtic) tradition of painting, drawing (or tattooing, in this case) magical symbols. Woads might be symbolic, but more often they were thought to carry a magical property, offering the wearer protection or making them indomitable in battle, or a woad painted on a door might prevent evil spirits from entering. Woads in Celtic tradition were indigo, but I used it more generically to mean a magical symbol. In Catling’s Bane, not all of the tattoos are symbols. Catling’s garden is simply a beautiful design. But the tattoos on the men may be more geometrical and may include woads aligned with the colors the symbol represents.
Resa – Why does Catling’s head have to be shaved when getting poisoned/tattooed? The design is described as part of her back, and falling over her shoulder. There is no mention of the tattoos going onto her scalp.
Diana – What a great question! I always saw Markum as the artist behind the tattoo designs. His canvas is the influencer’s skin, and he proceeds with his vision regardless of any suggestions he might receive. In fact, he may do the opposite of any request, just because he can! I imagined Catling’s tattoos might extend onto her scalp, but I may not have written that. Markum likely would have wanted the option – thus the shaved head.
Resa – Will her hair grow back for the next book?
Diana – Yes, it will. Once the influencers have their tattoos, they’re good to go.
Resa – Did Vianne pick the floral design? Or is it pre-prescribed?
Diana – I imagined that most of the female influencers received some version of flowers, but they wouldn’t have been free to pick the design.
Resa – Catling gets many tattoos at once, to get her caught up. Normally, at what age would a chosen child begin getting tattoos and training?
Diana – I didn’t specify a particular age, but it would coincide with training, so perhaps the first would occur around age 14. Normally, the colors would be added one at a time, with a break in between treatments to heal and recover from the trauma. Catling is forced to endure the whole thing at once for political reasons – the influencers want her oath of loyalty before she reports to Lelaine and begins blocking their control.
Resa – At the beginning of the story we observe Influence being used in an evil way. Later, we seem to learn that it can be used for good. Is it ever used for true honest good in any of the 4 books?
Diana – What a great question! Oh, all the blurry lines in this one. Influence is part of life. In our real world, we attempt to influence each other all the time. With money, sales pitches, beauty, logic, facts and lies, book covers and blurbs, gaslighting, rebates, and yes, emotion! That one is a big one. If you change how someone feels about something, you can influence them to buy a car, move to France, adopt a puppy, or get married! Emotion, emotion, emotion. Are those good or bad choices? Depends. In the book, influence is used primarily to control others. Sometimes that control is applied selfishly, but other times it’s applied for a higher good – like the good of the nation or to save someone’s life. I tried to add a lot of moral ambiguity and motivational complexity because that’s how people make choices. The difference in Catling’s Bane is that those on the receiving end of influence don’t have a choice about it.
Resa – I see 4 books in this “Rose Shield” series. Is the series done now?
Diana – Yes, the series is done. Phew.
Resa – I’m thinking I’m going to read them all, eventually, in my turtle reading way!
Diana – Thanks so much for the fun, and the beautiful work Resa! What an honor and a treat to see my characters come to life. Hugs. ♥️♥️♥️
Resa- Welcome Diana, and it’s fun for me, too! Hugs back to you.♥️♥️♥️
A long-time reader, best-selling author D. Wallace Peach started writing later in life after the kids were grown and a move left her with hours to fill. Years of working in business surrendered to a full-time indulgence in the imaginative world of books, and when she started writing, she was instantly hooked.
In addition to fantasy books, Peach’s publishing career includes participation in various anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. She’s an avid supporter of the arts in her local community, organizing and publishing annual anthologies of Oregon prose, poetry, and photography.
Peach lives in a log cabin amongst the tall evergreens and emerald moss of Oregon’s rainforest with her husband, two owls, a horde of bats, and the occasional family of coyotes.
The sequel to “Eternal Road” once again has Sam and James traveling through time in a 1956 Oldsmobile.
Sam (Samantha) is an Angel Emissary. Her current mission: Find Ryan, a recent soul and his guide, Eddie. They have gone missing. Lucifer is suspect for their disappearance. To aide her on the mission, she wrests James from his eternal home.
DISCLAIMER: There are no gowns in this story, per se.
Resa – John, I drew Sam as her angel self. I mean, when she’s not out on missions, she would be in her angel wear. I hope you approve of the drawing. (I don’t see wings)
John – I love Sam’s Angel self. I think it is exactly what she would wear around the cloud so to speak. She doesn’t have wings so that was a good call.
Resa – To me, Sam is the star of the 2 books. I mean, if the books were a movie, I think Sam would have top billing over James. Ryan and Eddie are co-stars. What do you think about that?
John – Yes, Sam is the star. She is the glue that holds both stories together. James could be a co-star and Eddie and Ryan featured players.
Resa – Also, now that I’m into drawing Sam, I got an itch to draw her in a mid 70’s style casino gown. Yes, I know she never wears one when they go to the Bellagio, but she could, in a time warp thing. I can’t remember if she wears one in the previous book, when they go to Vegas?
John – In the previous book she did not wear a casino gown but I know she would love one. I think if they had had the time she would have insisted on getting one. Sam can be anywhere she wants at anytime.
Resa – I like that! Sam’s main ace up her sleeve is time eternal.
Forever, Sam’s seven letter word falling across a triple word score, as she, James, Eddie and Ryan attempt to outwit their underworld opponent, the biggest cheater this side of Niflheim aka hell.
Speaking of hell; John affords no comfort as Satan tries to trick Sam, James, Eddie and Ryan, by placing them in some of the most horrific times and places man has ever known. The price of a ticket back to paradise? Ryan’s soul!
Resa – I know you worked out most of the time travel mechanics in the first book. The idea of not disturbing the “time continuum” I get. I learned that in the old Star Trek series. However, there are many other time travel issues, in both your books “Eternal Road” & The Last Drive.
Did you make a chart, when working things out?
John – I do not have a chart on the time travel rules. The basics are pretty simple. You cannot alter the future when in a different time period.
Resa – How did you figure/rationalize the logistics?
Was it all worked out in book one? Or did you have to work out some new time travel ideas & issues in this book?
John – The issues in the book were handled one at a time given the circumstance at the time. For instance if James or Ryan tried to save Karen after she was hit by a car then they would have altered the future. In the same manner if James and Ryan stayed at the scene as witnesses the same thing would happen.
On the time travel question every scene in The Last Drive was worked out on it’s own. Figuring the logistics took some thought but the rule about not disturbing the future was the guide.
For example the team considered that they should try to save the people on the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. The rationale that the intended target (The Capital ) was never hit was used. All those lives lost had repercussions on families left behind so to save them would have altered those repercussions. This is how each was thought through.
Resa -I see you can obtain an object (ie cell phone) in one time frame, then take it to another time frame.
Could Sam obtain a piece of fabric from ancient Rome, and take that to Las Vegas? Then could she obtain a dress from Las Vegas and combine the fabric and dress into one garment? Then could she wear that garment in another different time and place? Or, even combine that with say jewelry from that third place? Could this go on ad infinitum?
John – Sam can haul anything from zone to zone as long as she can get it before the dump to a new zone. She can’t haul stuff from heaven but the zones are fair game.
Resa – John, I’d like to post this on “Art Gowns”, but need as many gowns as possible. As you can see I have drawn Sam in: an Angel gown, a Las Vegas gown, A Roman Colosseum Gladiatorette gown, a Tea Time on the Titanic gown and a 1912 Ball gown.
John – You are the best, Resa. Thank you for what will be a beautiful thing.
John – A prequel is a great idea. You’ll hear another idea on the broadcast that may have legs too.
John turned to writing as a full-time occupation after an extensive career in business. John writes thriller fiction novels and short stories. He has written 7 books.
To read more about John’s books and awards, click on his photo.
All of John’s books are published by Keewaydin Lane Books.
Monarchy, religion, culture and love collide in ancient China’s warring society. All come to rest upon the shoulders of Aster, a gentle soul content in her life. At the start of this tale, her dead infant body is stolen from her mother, the Queen of Verdane. Aster is brought back to life by Barus. Barus becomes her father, the only one she knows & loves.
Resa – Why &/or how did you come up withe the name Aster?
Peach – That’s an easy one. She’s so pale that she reminded Barus of the white asters that grew in the meadows around his home. I imagined that when in bloom the flowers almost looked like snow.
Resa – I just have to ask, ” When did you discover the idea of “necromancy” … that it could bring people back to life?
Peach – Great question! Necromancy is (or was) a real thing, and the earliest records date back to the 3rd century, AD. Christian priests and scholars were some of the first to record attempts to “reanimate dead people or foretell the future by communicating with them.” So, it’s been around a long time, and I’m willing to swear that the desire to communicate with the dead continues today. Ouija Boards are a modern example, and some people make a very good living channeling departed souls.
Peach – In modern fantasy, most necromancers are evil and scary, involved in black magic and creating monsters. My mother didn’t want to read the book because she thought it was about cannibals. Lol. It’s a stereotype that I flipped on its head with Barus and Aster.
Resa – Did you make up the ritual? The mixing of herbs… the incanting…. the bleeding? Or did you read about it somewhere? Are there aster flowers in the potion?
Peach – The ritual was my own fabrication though I incorporated pieces of rituals that I found on the internet. It’s amazing what you can research there!
The herbs used in necromancy don’t include asters. The ones in the book are real poisons. The toxins have medical uses, but can easily be lethal. It’s another instance of that fine line between good and bad. It’s all about intention, isn’t it?
Resa – Above is an outfit I think the Queen of Blackrock could dress Aster in, when she is a guest there. However, I’m jumping ahead. Aster must get there first, and it’s a difficult journey fraught with perils.
Fortunately, she has the help of Joreh, then Teko. Oh, and I love all the hair on the men. Okay, not so much the beards, but all that long hair be it snarled, in a ponytail, braid or grey. I confess I have a huge crush on Teko.
Peach – I like long hair on men too. Ha ha. And not beards so much either, but it’s not like these guys get a chance to shave, so beards it is. And Teko is a fan favorite, Resa. He was so fun to write – a barbarian imbued with honor, misleading simplicity, and astute wisdom. He was full of surprises even as I wrote him.
Resa – There is a black & silver Dragon, who has bonded with Aster. It seems like a simple bonding, until the final legs of the journey to claim her birthright. What gave you the idea to use dragons?
Peach – In the Chinese legend of Kwan-Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, there’s a dragon. She encounters it on the road while carrying water, and she isn’t afraid. The dragon admires her goodness and kindness and gives her a gift of a well so she won’t have to carry water anymore. Just the mention of a dragon was enough for me to include them in the retelling of her story. ❤
Resa – On her journey, Aster encounters “Nightlings”. Are these like fire flies? Or are they little birds? I’d read a small portion of the book when they were encountered. In my mind I saw them as a sort of flashlight, leading Aster through darkness.
Peach – Ha ha ha. I saw them in my mind’s eye as insects actually but large ones, the size of hummingbirds. They’re like dragonflies but they light up during dusk. I think Joreh mentions in the beginning that they’re insects, but I mostly leave it up to the reader’s imagination. Your question intrigued me.
Resa – I gotta tell you, I was wearing a thick, oversized lumberjack shirt while reading about the snow, the cold, the freezing, the deprivations of winter beyond winter. A couple of nights ago, when I put the story down for dinner, my hands were so cold my fingers were icicles. I’m chalking it up to that you are such a great writer that you can describe me into being cold.
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Peach – LOL, Resa. I probably was wearing a coat when I wrote the book… last winter. Our cabin is hard to heat when it gets especially chilly outside. 🙂 I’m so sorry about the cold fingers though!
Resa – I have a question about Aster’s raiment once she has reached Blackrock. Aster is cleaned up and dressed in rose, cream and violet silk with a blue sash sleeveless blue robe/w dragons on the hem. Her hair is in a tall knot. This description is not as brightly colourful as the citizens are dressed. Am I correct in summing up that her outfit in Blackrock is a less richly hued than the one she wears at the Gates of Whitehall?
Peach – I can so tell that you’re a wardrobe and gown designer! Your questions are wonderful. Generally, the queen of BlackRock has selected pastels for Aster, in Blackrock and at the gates of Whitehall. The queen thinks she’s too deathly pale for anything the least vivid. She also doesn’t trust Aster’s fashion sense, so everything coordinates regardless of how Aster puts the layers together.
The gowns are similar to the Hanfu style of Chinese clothing, lots of layers of silk and long flowing sleeves. There are wonderful images on the internet and lots of variation. The tall hairstyles were typical of Chinese royalty back in the day.
Resa – I imagined I was the Queen of Blackrock’s designer, so I had access to all silk, threads and jewels. I designed an outfit with Aster. There is an aster pattern down one side of her sleeveless kimono, and she wears fresh asters in her hair.
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Peach – Love it! Wow. Resa, that’s beautiful! And I just ADORE the idea of you as the designer producing Aster’s dress for the queen. How fun to have you in the story!
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Resa – OH! You never described a headdress. Would I be out of order to include one?
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Peach – Isn’t that funny? Lol. Please do whatever you want with a headdress. You’re the designer. ❤❤❤
Resa – I would have loved to draw Aster on her horse, but that could have added MONTHS to the drawing.
Inside the Gates of Whitehall, Aster is weak as a kitten, yet regal. I saw her using something to hold onto. I came up with obsidian cat statues. There are the wild cats mentioned throughout the journey, so I thought even though you never described these statues, it’s not totally out of context.
Peach – The drawing is beautiful. And the cat statues look great the way they frame her. I totally defer to your artistic impulses.
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Resa – You are not just gracious, you are a true fan of the creative nature.
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Peach – And your reviews are just amazing! I LOVE them. I can’t wait to see it all come to life. Thank you so much for reading my work and for your wonderful drawings.
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Resa – My pleasure!!!! ❤️❤️❤️
A long-time reader, best-selling author D. Wallace Peach started writing later in life after the kids were grown and a move left her with hours to fill. Years of working in business surrendered to a full-time indulgence in the imaginative world of books, and when she started writing, she was instantly hooked.
In addition to fantasy books, Peach’s publishing career includes participation in various anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. She’s an avid supporter of the arts in her local community, organizing and publishing annual anthologies of Oregon prose, poetry, and photography.
Peach lives in a log cabin amongst the tall evergreens and emerald moss of Oregon’s rainforest with her husband, two owls, a horde of bats, and the occasional family of coyotes.
Please meet Shehanne Moore: writer, author, publisher, wife, mother and one of the official Art Gowns models.
SMART + SEXY = SMEXY
I just finished reading “Loving Lady Lazuli”
Cassidy Armstrong has had an unfortunate life, that has scarred her in more ways than one. Cast off from family as a baby, and her brother dead from beatings, she is pressed into being a jewel thief. Nonetheless, she has managed to hoard her virginity like it was a massive collection of fine Waterford Crystal worth more florins than any working class person would see in a lifetime.
Now, she has returned to claim her birthright. As a fake widow, Lady Cassidy Armstrong can move around more freely, searching for her proof of heritage. Yet, even after 10 years of aging, donned in a widow’s “Crow Black” and with a new name; Devorlane Hawley (fifth Duke of Chessington) recognizes her.
I asked Shehanne: Devorlane Hawley – Fifth Duke of Chessington, was off at war for 10 years. Was it the Napoleonic Wars? If not, which war was he in, and can you give a bit of history of the war and/or London around the time of this story?
Answer: It was the Napoleonic Wars but he was in the military a little before they actually started in 1803, as an unwilling recruit shall we say? And obviously since the book is set in 1810 and the wars didn’t end for another five years, he’s no longer a soldier, having been badly wounded and invalided out. The Wars came out of chaos that was the French Revolution and for some time, a long time, it looked as if Napoleon Bonaparte could become master of Europe, until he was finally defeated at the Battle of Waterloo and exiled to Saint Helena. I imagine that life for people in London and indeed elsewhere, would–as ever, even as we’re seeing today– depend on your wealth. Whatever your class, most people had a relative in the army or navy and would be anxious about that but that’s roughly where any kind of things in common would end. For the rich there was the chance to make more money, for the women to adopt new fashions, go to charitable balls and see some wonderful re-enactments of battles etc onstage. For the poor–the usual struggle for survival. All the English counties had a militia, there to protect the county and of course there was espionage, the suggestion of which the heroine of this book uses to her advantage at one point.
“Never judge a book by its cover, unless there’s a gown on it.”
I came up with that exceptionally memorable saying, after reading “Splendor”. It was the first book by Shehanne that I read. I pair it here with “Loving Lady Lazuli”, as they are both part of a series about London Jewel Thieves.
You can read my review, and mini interview with Shehanne by clicking on the drawing of “Splendor”, above.
I read “The Viking and the Courtesan” quite recently. It is definitely a bit of a departure from the other stories.
Malice Mallender is quite the piece of work. For the right price “Strictly Business” will destroy any marriage, usually by dealing with the wife nuisance. The right price; enough to buy the latest pair of shoes she covets in Madame Faro’s window. So, what happens when “Strictly Business” is inadvertently hired to destroy Malice’s own marriage to Lord Cyril Hepworth?
I asked Shehanne: In “The Viking and the Courtesan” – How did you come up with the idea of “time displacement” ?
Answer: My dearest, lovely Resa, first let me thank for all your kindness and especially for the gowns and asking me here today. You may know I must be amongst your biggest fans, not just as a mega admirer of your work but the fact you make gowns to be used for charity.
Okay, so to answer your question, I had a flash moment. I never ever set out to write a time displacement story. Just like I never ever set out to write any book. But I had written the first few chapters of this book exactly as they stand now, to the bit where she goes to her husband, Cyril’s flat. The story was to be a second chance love story between them but one day as I was belting away at the keyboard, I thought that idea was a bit too similar to the Lady Fury book. Then the little voice whispered… you know that Viking idea you have where you have the hero’s story but not the heroine’s? Hmm?? Well … why don’t you just bung that in here? Quite understandably I thought, no way. Are you serious???? I mean, come on. Then I went and thought about it for a moment. And I thought, okaaaay. Maybe I should just give it a try for a chapter or so, no more? What have I got to lose really? And that was it. That’s the truth. It just popped into my head.
The moment I saw the new cover of Shehanne’s re-released tale of Lady Fury (Genoa 1820), I fell in love with the gown. I read chapter one on Shehanne’s blog. Then I read the book.
“Rule One: There will be no kissing. Rule two: You will be fully clothed at all times… Widowed Lady Fury Shelton hasn’t lost everything—yet. As long as she produces the heir to the Beaumont dukedom, she just might be able to keep her position.”
Perhaps ex-privateer Flint Blackmoore (a man she’d rather see rotting in hell than sleeping in her bed) has never been good at following the rules, still she decides to use him to produce an heir.
I asked Shehanne: In “Lady Fury” – What was your impetus for coming up with “the rules”? Did you have a reason for making Blackmoore a privateer… ie: a love of ships, a port you have been stimulated historically by?
Answer: Ooh, I have always loved pirate stories since I read Treasure Island as a kid. I was reared on all the old films and one of my fav board games was buccaneer. I was gutted to learn it just wasn’t possible to pursue my chosen choice of career actually. But I did always want to write a book about a pirate or a privateer. As for ‘the rules’, well, once again I had written first few chapters and I thought, now what? You can tell by now I never ever think anything out. And I thought, well, he’s got her cornered which she’s er…not going to take lying down. So what would she do here to pay him back and keep any feelings which she sees she sort of still might have, under wraps Then I thought I could maybe have a little fun dissecting a certain activity shall we say? I am a great believer in having fun especially with rules on anything. Let’s face it, I dunno about you but over here in Scotland right now, and England, well .. I never saw so many that were badly thought through.
This is my favourite book by Shehanne. It is her most recent, and proves that she gets better with time. As the ending demands a sequel, I am hoping there is one in progress!
You can read my review, some Q&A with Shehanne and see the gown drawings by clicking on my above rendition of Destiny.
Shehanne’s titles are available worldwide on Amazon, Ingram Books & Barnes and Noble. If you click on the above banner, you will go to Amazon’s universal “select a country” page. Once there, select “Books”. In “Books” search “Shehanne Moore. It will take you to all of her titles.
Is the line between love and hate so fine you can’t see it? If you can’t see it, can you cross it?
Some women are attracted to bad boys. Are some men attracted to bad girls? What if a good boy became a bad boy? What if a bad girl became a good girl, even when she was bad?
That’s just part of the passion play in O’Roarke’s Destiny. The intrigue, mystery and small matter of an effective curse cast by Diver’s O’Roarke is the story’s action.
It’s 1801, Cornwall; a time when women needed men, more than men needed women. Or, so society knew. 1801, Cornwall; Destiny Rhodes needs no one, nor anything: save Doom Bar Hall, its servants, Aunt Modesty’s porcelain, Lord Tredwynne’s antique armour, Grandfather Austell’s stuffed parrots, garlands in the hall at Christmas, her garden and all the embroidered pillows sewn up mended. At least that’s what Destiny was thinking.
However, it all seems somewhat moot after Divers O’Roarke wins Doom Bar Hall, from Destiny’s drunkard brother, Orwell.
It’s a world of smugglers, pirates, excisemen and extreme danger, yet, Destiny needs only her instincts. She’s in over her head, but owns a drive to do what has to be done to get to the bottom of what is going on, and retain a position to remain at Doom Bar Hall.
Still, Lyons busted her illegal casks of spirits. Who tipped him off? Mostly, why did Divers O”Roarke take the fall for her?
💥 BREAKING NEWS! 💥
There’s gowns in the story.
Tragically, Destiny’s dear husband Ennis, while in his carriage, had cascaded to his death into a ravine.(credit to the curse) Now, Destiny is in an eternal mourning in black. On top of it all, she has pined away her body’s curves, and chopped off her luscious long black hair.
Divers O’Roarke wants her, but black is for widows. He has won Doom Bar Hall … fair & square? So, her gowns are his, to sell at his pleasure. Yet, his pleasure is far from the few bits of coin he could get for the gowns. What he wants is to see Destiny, in any gown other than widow’s black.
Eventually, Destiny must wear a gown for him. She dons her least sexy gown, which is in Egyptian blue. (I don’t have that colour in my caddy, but I came up with an eau de nil). This colour is not her best, possibly her worst, definitely her most disliked.
Yet, what Divers O’Roarke wants is to see her in her most vibrant and glorious red gown. Will she wear it?
1. How did the idea of a curse come up? Are you superstitious, dabble in say; Tarot or Astrology? How/why did the curse entail everything turning to dust? Why not turn to toads, a lowly insect or even a hamster? (a little cheek)
Oh, now there was a time I did some work for a psychic journalist. I did once say what haven’t I done writing wise and other way wise when it comes to earning a crust. And yes I also did some Tarot work for her too as part of that. So I did learn the cards. At that time I also could do card readings from playing cards. I had a great aunt who could do the tea leafs. That totally fascinated me growing up. I think much as we may mock it, we do want to know a bit about what’s ahead, that HOPEFULY there’s a corner that will be turned or some good luck coming. As for the curse idea? Well, the book started about a house that the heroine had lost. And that idea came from us having to sell up our family home and me jokingly saying to a friend, I should just have flung myself in with it as a housekeeper. Then I thought BINGO idea for a book here. And it started out as fun and frothy but there were things on the table that weren’t right. Like why didn’t the hero just put her out? How can he be so besotted with this family when they were horrible to him as a child? Was light and frothy going to sustain a book? Then for some reason I saw their pasts and how and why he had cursed her and how everything had then gone wrong in her life since. Everyone she cared about has died. So she gets this name locally that way. Now if only I had thought beyond the box though, you are right. He should have said may everything you touch turn into a hamster dude. But then she’d have been overrun. That might have been a worse curse.2. Your use of humour helps in feeling the underlying intense emotional states of Destiny and O’Roarke. With Destiny it’s the simple practical day to day things she plans to do the next day. With O’Roarke, it’s what to dig his grave with. Did you intend these character’s personal thoughts to be a humorous relief? Or did it just turn out that way?
No. Firstly I always like to use humour of thoughts. We all have them, let’s be clear. Maybe not about graves and what to dig them with etc., but we do have little idiosyncrasies and of course we are not always aware of them either. And I also know my readers expect to have a few giggles. So I couldn’t not. My characters always have some kind of wee saying or attitude. One heroine had sliding scales of things. Another would sooner swallow a crocodile than do whatever and as the book went on, that list grew and grew. One hero–my most impatient one–had Christ on various things. I did feel this book would be a bit dark if I didn’t have these bits. They are neither of them in the best place emotionally. However I then have the prob of her being a widow and I did NOT want to tackle it by having her thinking well, she was widow, thank God, because she had every reason not to have loved her husband. I felt that was a get out. So I thought if I had her, having been hit so hard that her way through is to line up tasks and tick the boxes, that that actually could prove quite humorous, especially if she’s so busy lining up these tasks, while people keep ‘getting in her face’ she doesn’t see how deep the waters are getting. It was like a wee you may think wink to my readers she’s going to be incandescent with rage the way my other ladies would be, but you are in for a surprise here. She’s too busy thinking she has that cushion cover to sew and that stool to mend. In a way these are the things that also need to be prised loose from her fingertips.
3. I’m fascinated by “Doom Bar Hall”. How did you come up with that name? Had you considered calling it “Rhodes Hall”?
Doom Bar Hall was called after Doom Bar sandbar in Cornwall. Given I wanted to write of curses and smuggling, and not such great emotional states, I wanted something dark sounding and it is quite a fearsome sandbar I gather, responsible for hundreds of ship wrecks down the years. Originally before I went from frothy to dark, from Hampshire to Cornwall geographically, the house was called Lavistock and the book title was the Lady of Lavistock. Divers wasn’t called Divers O’Roarke either at that point. I just felt all round this was stronger. I do like to create a pervading mood and landscape for each book. This became the one here.
Resa, I want to thank you not just for inviting me here today, but your wonderful friendship AND the talent and readiness to use it to create gowns, for all those you create gowns for AND that includes my ladies. They and I salute you.
Here’ s the first drawing I did of Destiny. I was trying too, hard with the chopped off hair look. Yet, I still like it, because she looks like a pirate courtesan, with hair for an eye patch. Yet, perhaps this is a more correct visual introduction to Destiny.
Shehanne Moore is a native of Scotland, Dundonian by birth. She is the author of many Romance novels.
Having read 3 (almost 4) of her books, I can say her attention to the details of an era puts one in a different time and place. You don’t question it. You are there.
As for the flame of love she burns with her words, I suggest you read a book to see the fire!
Click on the pic below, to buy O’Roarke’s Destiny on Amazon!
A cover for one’s book can be as daunting as writing it. After a great search, Shehanne found the image below. The colours were wrong, but they were made right.
Eye’d like to thank all who took the time to read this post. Love you all!
“Never judge a book by its cover, unless there’s a gown on it.”
Genre: Historical Romance.
Much like a game of chess; this tale has moves, and counter moves. Is it checkmate, or stalemate? Read the book to experience the final play!
Although a woman in days when women were mostly property, Splendor finds a self chosen path. She will marry Gabe, the man of her breast’s heart. He will become a man of the cloth. Together they will help the poor.
Enter: the Earl of Stillmore, a chessboard, two Kings, two Queens, four Bishops, four Rooks, four Knights and sixteen Pawns.
Shehanne’s characters are vivid, interesting and all with purpose. I particularly adore the settings she recreates of time and place. I’m amused by the very appropriate, and humorously creative names Shehanne has given her characters. All throughout the novel her wry sense of humour prevails, but never assails nor assuages.
The thing is, it is romance. It’s romance with all the ardour lovers find in love’s wake. The main scene of passion is quite worth the reading and waiting for. It reaches just a tad deliciously beyond cutting to waves crashing on rocks, fireworks or a volcano erupting.
Furthermore, the Art Gown in me feels a hearty prick of the needle at the main peril Splendor puts herself in. Drawn like a moth to the flame of fine silk every time she passes Madame Renare’s shop and without means, Splendor finds herself sinking deeper into debt. T’is dire! The turnkey of the debtor’s prison workhouse is upon her doorstep.
“In italicized quotations” are excerpts from the book.
“Mrs. Ferret set the beribboned hair comb Splendor had found impossible to resist, the robin’s egg blue one with the tiny cream rosettes attached,”
A bill is presented:
“She had spent a little money, it was true. She hadn’t meant to, but now she was back in credit again. Why shouldn’t she have the odd this and that?”
Splendor is a Fashionista:
“she had perhaps gone a little far with the silk parasol and the shoes to match, but if she hadn’t, Topaz would have stolen them and ended up in Newgate. Then there was the matter of just how respectful Madame Renare had been when she’d seen the address and the name, the new one she’d furnished herself with. Lady Winterborne, Countess of Stillmore.”
Although unrequited, Splendor retains her arrogant impudence:
“And that comb, this peignoir, the new day dress with the lace insert in the bodice, were all very nice. Too nice to leave feeling neglected in the shop. And the comb had been reduced by half a guinea. She had saved him half a guinea by buying it.”
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I needed to ask Shehanne, whose blog runs the tagline “Smexy Historical Romance”, a few questions.
1. What does SMEXY mean?
A…an easy one this. It means smart and sexy which I like to think my heroines are even though they can behave incredibly stupidly at times.
2. Where does the historical location inspiration come from… the castles and halls near where you live?
I squirrel. I find locations and ideas everywhere. With Loving Lady Lazuli– another book in the series–it was from visiting Mount Grace Priory, especially the monk’s cell there. It’s in Yorkshire actually and not what we’d know as a cell either. Catterton House in Splendor was based on a Georgian cottage where I then lived in Newport-On-Tay, except it wasn’t a cottage. It was a mansion build down the cliff face.
3. London Jewel Thieves – Where will I be able to read the ongoing serial?
As we speak Loving Lady Lazuli which features Sapphire as the heroine and Ruby and Pearl as her sidekicks, is being formatted for kindle.. Now I have my rights back to this series I will be giving you the stories of Diamond, Jade and Amber. I may even yet turn Ruby into a heroine. I have an idea there.
Shehanne Moore is an author who writes historical romance novels. If you visit her Home Page , you will find out about all of her books.
Click on pic for better view
Take some time to visit Shehanne’s Blog Page, and you will realize that a very cute Pack of Hamsters have hijacked her book reviews, interviews and other relevant endeavours. If you haven’t visited her blog, you should. You will enjoy the Hamsters & get to read a fab post! As crazy as it seems, I was inspired to draw a Hamster in a hamster gown, Hamstor Splendor. I hope Shehanne & all of her Hamster pals enjoy it!
You can pre-order “Splendor” in ebook format, on Amazon! It comes out October 1, 2018, with a hard copy following soon after.
Art Gowns 
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