S.A. Bolich brings romance to a Civil War ghost story, IN HEAVEN'S SHADOW

I do love a good genre-bender. Historical fiction meets paranormal romance in S.A. Bolich's latest book. She stopped by to tell us about In Heaven's Shadow and the research behind it.

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When should love end? The question behind In Heaven’s Shadow

by S.A. Bolich

How can you build a life with a ghost? I mean, really, why would you want to? On the other hand, who says you can’t? In the case of poor Lilith Stark, the heroine of In Heaven’s Shadow, just about everybody!

Who wouldn’t love a man who foreswears Heaven to be with you? Poor Joab found the love of his life a bit late, and only got two years with her before the war came along. He’s not ready to move on, and Lilith sees no particular reason why he should. But how would you react if your neighbor suddenly announced that her dead husband had come home from Gettysburg a ghost and had taken up residence? Suppose she was a little “odd” anyway, with a certifiably strange father? And suppose you thought you saw rainbows following her around on occasion, or caught her talking to people who weren’t there? How hard would she have to talk to convince you it was all true?

Yup. Even today, society would likely still commit her first and ask questions later. Just imagine how upset 19^th century sensibilities would be.

The Civil War was an era when “community” meant people helped each other and knew everything about one another and got in each other’s business without question or qualm. The backdrop of the war just made it more essential for people on the home front to get along. With so many men off fighting, the burden on the women at home was truly remarkable as they fought to keep houses and families and farms together and food on the table while raiders from both sides stole everything in sight. I grew up on a farm (Lilith’s hatred of hoeing comes straight from my childhood of maintaining the kitchen garden), but before I wrote this book I really didn’t have a bedrock appreciation for the amount of sheer manual labor our ancestors put in every day. Lilith and her neighbors need to pull together—but she has tossed a rock into the pool of settled truths that are all they have left to depend upon. With the war already looming over this prim and proper corner of Virginia like the scythe of the Grim Reaper choosing another victim, they’re just not up to her overturning all the notions of life and death and faith that keep them going from day to day.

Yet how can she turn her back on the man she loves just because he’s dead? What a delicious dilemma.

I have always been fascinated by the Civil War, and I love fantasy. As a history major in college (yes, I’m one of those geeks!) I set out to write historical fiction, but there was always that fantasy element that kept drawing me away. At last, with In Heaven’s Shadow, I got a great chance to combine paranormal with “straight” history and magic and come up with a Civil War ghost story that is also a very different sort of love story.

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Learn More about S.A. Bolich on her website.

Purchase In Heaven’s Shadow as an ebook on Amazon, Smashwords, B&N, or directly from Taliesin Publishing. 

Guest Blogger YA novelist Jan Fischer-Wade

More Summer Teen Reading Party!

Oh, you guys are going to like this one. My guest today, Jan Fischer-Wade, discusses the allure of the British accent. Sigh.... Her new book is Veiled Virtues, a teen romantic fantasy with some paranormal elements. 


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Why are British Accents so Dang Hot???

Okay, I’ll be the first one to admit it. If I hear a guy with a British accent, something inside me just melts, Ahhhh. This was part of the reason I sent the heroine in my new book, Veiled Virtues, to England. And connecting that accent to a handsome, muscular hero – a modern day knight – well, let’s just say OMG!

Some will point out that there are numerous “British” accents, and that is fine. I love ‘em all – Scottish, Cockney, Welsh, Brummie – whatever! [Side Note: Even the IT guys my company use in Northern Ireland can turn a computer problem into a wonderful afternoon telephone chat.] But, I think what I am probably most referring to is that upper class English accent – think Colin Firth in ‘Pride and Prejudice’. He kept us all swooning, right?

This list of sexy Brits (with their yummy accents) can go on and on - Jude Law, Robert Pattinson, Daniel Radcliffe (its okay people, he’s of-age now), Orlando Bloom, Hugh Grant, Ewan McGregor, Paul Bettany…  Oh, and of course DAVID BECKHAM!! Have you seen that new McDonald’s ad??? Even the middle-age male manager swoons!

Even the movies have caught on to this phenomenon.  In “Love Actually” the slightly bug-eyed and awkward young Englishman Colin Frizzle strikes out with girls left and right on his home turf of London. Determined that he is a Love God simply “on the wrong continent,” he takes his self-admitted “cute English accent” and travels to the United States to find a girlfriend with the realization that “Stateside I am Prince William without the weird family.”  Next, he’s “on shag highway heading west.”  Colin lands in Wisconsin, has a taxi take him to the nearest bar, orders a Budweiser, and finds not one, but three girls who fawn over him and his accent.  Needless to say, he returns to London, with an American girlfriend in tow. If you haven’t seen “Love Actually” – do it now! I love, love, love this movie!  Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Alan Rickman, and a whole host of others star in this movie. Rowan Atkinson’s bit is particularly funny!

So, what is it about the accent?  Does it indicate chivalry? Money? Manners? Alluring stranger from another country – a bit exotic yet safe?

Or, like so many things, did it all start with the Beatles?

We may never be able to pinpoint the ‘why’ but regardless, if you swoon at an English accent, are lured to English men for any other reason, or the thought of a strong, hot, modern day knight sets your insides aglow, check out my book, Veiled Virtues!

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Well, I'm sold! You can purchase Veiled Virtues (for the special price of $1.99!) at Amazon, at MuseItUp, and many other venues.

If you go to Jan's blog and leave a comment, you can enter to win a $50 Barnes & Noble gift card!

Guest Blogger paranormal romance author Adriana Ryan

One of the joys of reading fiction is getting to know the personalities an author has invented. Today, Adriana Ryan joins us to chat about the quirks in her characters. Adriana's paranormal romance novella, Her Heart's Desire, came out this month from MuseItUp.

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Hi Anne, and thank you so much for hosting me on your blog today! Since Her Heart’s Desire just came out on the twenty-third of March, I thought it would be fun to do a little list of things I know about my characters that didn’t make it into the story ... A little sneak peek into the quirks of the characters, if you will! When you read the story, you’ll find evidence of these facts peppered throughout. See if you can spot them all! J

I have to start with Millie Fields, of course—the heroine of the novella. Fun facts about Millie include:

1. She can never find her purse. When she gets home from work, she intends to put it down in the same spot every night, but it usually ends up hidden under her bed or in some other hard-to-find spot.

2. If there’s a classic romantic movie in existence, Millie’s seen it.

3. She has yet to find some good quality hair products that will hold up in humid weather (which really sucks, because she lives in Charleston, SC!)

And now, Braedon Hill, Millie’s best friend and pediatric surgeon extraordinaire. There was so much I wanted to share about him that I ended up cutting. So here’s some about him:

1. Braedon secretly reads romance novels because he wants to know what Millie finds so absorbing about them.

2. He often wonders why the female nurses at the hospital seem to stutter so much when they talk to him.

3. When Millie’s parents died, he vowed to himself that he’d become her family and be there for her no matter what.

And last, but certainly not least, the delectable Graham Lance.

1.  Graham started using his signature aftershave because a former girlfriend told him it made him irresistibly seductive.

2. If his condo was burning down, and he could only save one thing, Graham would choose his bed. He’s had way too much fun on that thing for it to burn down to ashes. ;)

3. Women with hazel eyes are Graham’s Achilles heel.

I hope you had fun learning more about the main characters in Her Heart’s Desire! I know I had fun dreaming them up. J

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Sounds like a fun bunch, doesn't it? You can get to know Adriana Ryan better by visiting her website.

You can purchase Her Heart's Desire from MuseItUp.