Seeking the Storyteller

I know of the Storyteller, it whispers into the man’s ear, I’ve met him. If you promise not to kill me, I’ll take you to him.

Alix Andre DeBenit and Randall Fagan are Hunters, part of a hidden network of humans who track and kill the monsters lurking in our world so everyone else can pretend they don’t exist. But when a living shadow mentions someone called the Storyteller, Alix hesitantly decides to learn more.

They say the Storyteller lives in a massive library full of books that tell every being’s life story. He can read these books, rewrite them and change anything he wants, even if it’s already happened. That’s the power Alix wants, the power to bring his murdered family back and he’s determined to make the Storyteller do it.

He just has to decide if working with the very creatures he’s supposed to kill is worth it.

Character: Mira
Book: Seeking the Storyteller by Jessica Walsh and Briana Lawrence


Tell me a little about yourself?

Me?  Sure!  Are we taking part in some sort of human interaction by having this interview?  Is this how humans converse with one another?  

Oh right, you want to know about me.  Well, I’m Mira, and I am a Scough.  I look similar to a fox.  My father is the Storyteller but he’s in a lot of trouble right now.  Once I get done with this interview, I should probably go back to trying to help him.


Where do you live?

I live at the Scough camp.  It’s full of trees and nests where we all live peacefully.  At least, that’s where I used to live, currently I’m at the Hunters.  They live in a warehouse and-... oh, I’ve just been told that I can’t say much about it.  Sorry!


Who is the most important person in your life?

My father!  He means everything to me.  Him and the other Scough at the camp are my family.  I really miss them, but I had to leave to try and help. 


What was your childhood like?

Really fun!  My father use to live in a library, but he ended up leaving because he was lonely.  He’s not lonely anymore because of me and the other Scough.  We all spend time together and stay close to one another.  None of this complicated stuff happened until I got older.


Of all the people you've met, who would you LEAST like to be stuck in an elevator with?

What’s an elevator? 


Good question. What is the most important thing in your life? What do you value most?

My father.  Oh, and my book.  It’s a pretty cool book, actually.  Whatever I write in it happens in real life, so if I write for a door to unlock, it’ll be unlocked.  My father told me not to use it that much, but lately I’ve been using it all the time.  I have to!  I have to do whatever I can to help him!


What is your biggest fear?

There’s this creature called the Lurkhamara who’s been causing a lot of trouble.  He’s done something to my father, I know he has.  That’s why I had to leave home to go to your world, because my book told me I could find help.  But I’m really worried that this isn’t going to be enough to stop the Lurkhamara.  If we can’t stop him, he’s going to use my father to mess everything in my world and in your world, too.  He’s done it before.  A long time ago him and another creature called Atticus destroyed a large portion of my world.  I wasn’t born yet, but I heard that it was a huge disaster.  A lot of people died, and I don’t want that to happen again.


What is the most important thing that ever happened to you? Why?

Coming to your world, actually.  I might not know much about it, but my book told me that this is where I would find help.  I’ve never been anywhere on my own before so this is a really big deal to me.  I need to save my father and fix things, no matter what.


Do you have any special talents or abilities?

Most of them come from the book I was telling you about.  When I write something down it’ll come to life, or it’ll tell me what I need to know.  My book is what told me to come to this world.  It led me to the Hunters and said that they would help me.  It seemed like an odd choice since the Hunters hate demons, but so far things seem to be working out... kind of.  They haven’t killed me yet, so that’s good!


How do you see your future?

You know, to be honest, I want to learn more about your world.  I miss home, but your world is so interesting!  Like that elevator thing you mentioned, what is that anyway?


Well, Mira, it's basically like an escalator, only it travels up in a straight line, and you can't run on it. For my next question, I'd like to ask: if you could spend the day with someone you admire (living or dead or imaginary), who would you pick?

I have two answers for this!  The first answer is Xaver and Haven.  They’re the ones I met when I first arrived in your world.  They were really nice to me.  Well, Haven was at least, but Xaver would smile sometimes when he thought we weren’t looking.  Xaver was killed, unfortunately, and I really miss how the three of us would spend time together.  I’d love to do that again if I could.

The second answer is a new boy I met.  His name is Zach and he was really nice to me when I felt really sad about everything that was going on.  I don’t think he realized that I was a demon though, my hair was covering my ears and stuff.  Still, he was really nice.  I hope I see him again.


If you had a free day with no responsibilities, how would you spend it?

Exploring more of your world.  There’s so much going on right now that I can’t.  I mean, I have so many questions about your world.  Why do you all travel around in cars?  Why so many roads?  Why so many buildings?  Where are the nests and the trees?  How do you sleep without them?


Where can we find out more about you?

If you read Seeking the Storyteller,  you’ll find out everything you want to know.  Is the interview over now?  If so, then thank you very much!  This was fun! 

Biography:


Jessica Walsh

My life is a flurry of writing, art and creativity. You can usually find me reading a book, scribbling notes in a notebook for future creations, typing on a laptop with music blaring in my ears or buried in my basement watching documentaries and sitting behind a sewing machine.

I've been writing for as long as I can remember and have boxes of old notebooks in horrible handwriting to prove it. Only recently have I stumbled back into writing and finishing my ideas.

Seeking the Storyteller is the first novel I've published; with my partner in crime and life, Briana Lawrence. I also write horror, fantasy, supernatural and occasionally romance pieces which I am currently shopping around through contests and publishers.



Briana Lawrence

At the age of nine, like most kids, Briana Lawrence had a dream. She wanted to be the best "WRITTER" in the whole wide world. Her fourth grade class laughed and wondered how one hoped to become a "writer" if they couldn't even spell the word. Back then her stories were created with crayons and construction paper. As she grew older they progressed into notebooks and colored ink pens of pink, blue, and purple. When she lost her older brother, Glenn Berry, in a car accident, she stopped writing.

Dreams, however, have a funny way of coming back.

Before she realized it she was grabbing her notebook and pens again. She would write stories that ranged from high school romance to her imagination running wild with the likes of Goku, Vegeta, and the other characters of Dragonball Z. This continued throughout college where she would always end up writing about the space exploits of the pilots of Gundam Wing and other works of fan fiction. Soon she realized that she wanted to do more than that. Her head was full of ideas, full of original characters and worlds that she wanted to share with others.

Thus, she stepped into an English Major with some Women's Studies on the side.

She graduated Iowa State University in 2006 and moved to Minneapolis with her partner. Here, she tried to get into graduate school, but things didn't pan out the way she wanted. She ended up working retail, her dream becoming buried by Black Fridays and other busy times of year. Once again, however, that dream returned. She went from immersing herself in geeky fan fiction to actually writing about the geeky things she loved for several anime and video game review sites. However, it was her discovery of National Novel Writing Month that made her go back to creating her own characters and plots.

Now, here she is, an author in the writing world.


Briana: http://brichibi.wix.com/whisperedwords                       

Jessica: http://snowtigra.wix.com/jessicawalsh

Seeking the Storyteller

I know of the Storyteller, it whispers into the man’s ear, I’ve met him. If you promise not to kill me, I’ll take you to him.

Alix Andre DeBenit and Randall Fagan are Hunters, part of a hidden network of humans who track and kill the monsters lurking in our world so everyone else can pretend they don’t exist. But when a living shadow mentions someone called the Storyteller, Alix hesitantly decides to learn more.

They say the Storyteller lives in a massive library full of books that tell every being’s life story. He can read these books, rewrite them and change anything he wants, even if it’s already happened. That’s the power Alix wants, the power to bring his murdered family back and he’s determined to make the Storyteller do it.

He just has to decide if working with the very creatures he’s supposed to kill is worth it.

Still Rock Water is the first in the Moonstone series of paranormal novels set in the little village of St. Ives, Cornwall, England.

Liliha's life changes when she inherits her grandmother's star moonstone ring. Instead of playing the role of an Australian housewife, an apparition whisks her away to participate in a flood rescue. She dismisses the strange vision as a dream until it is repeated and grows stronger. Despite her unique ability to help others in distress, Liliha is powerless to alter her depressed, belittling husband. But transformation awaits her in the form of betrayal, losing her ring and immigrating to the other side of the Earth.

After a coastal storm, the St. Ives police discover the unique ring on a body and send it away for assessment. Experts at the British Museum offer Liliha an appointment.

Sweeping, epic in scope, spare and poetic, Liliha's story is as irresistible as the pull of her ancient moonstone ring. Still Rock Water is a whirlwind of sensory delight and mystery, told in spare and poetic prose, with characters so clearly drawn, their humanity rings across the deserts of ancient Egypt, through the annals of time and straight to the reader's heart. - Carol Kean. Author of Left on Stonehaven and Ironwolf.

Tidal Surge is the second in the Moonstone series of paranormal novels set in the little village of St. Ives, Cornwall, England.

Full of married bliss, Liliha welcomes her edgy daughter to St. Ives. However, alerted during visions while wearing an ancient star moonstone ring, Liliha's helpful role takes a terrifying direction. Instead of putting harmful situations right by using her ingenuity, her experiences deteriorate into a skirmish to avert harm.

 After secretly trying on a bracelet, Kaelyn's first vision of participating in murder drags her deeper towards addiction to vicarious acts.

Neither aware of the other's participation during each vision, mother and daughter see through a stranger's eyes and manipulate their actions to battle over good and evil.

Today I'm happy to have author Francene Stanley stop by.


1. Greetings, can you tell us a little bit about your history and how your work has evolved up to this point?

Thank you so much for hosting me on your blog, Helen. I'm delighted to share a bit about myself.

I've learned so much during my long life, both bitter and sweet. Although I spent the first forty-five years in South Australia, the United Kingdom is now my country of choice. I live in the picturesque setting of Hertfordshire in outer London. Horses roam the fields around a little strip of Victorian cottages along the road.

I used to be employed in the catering business full time—hard work, which left no energy for anything else. When I retired, I needed to occupy myself. After songwriting, I turned to poetry and once I'd exhausted every topic I could think of, a novel came to mind, loosely based on my life. In 2007, I began to write my first novel. Since then, I joined the Internet Writers Workshop and have written nine novels, six of which are published.


2. What genre, or genres, do you write?

I write fantasy and paranormal. First of all, I wrote my life story for my family.
Right. Done. But what about all I'd learned during my wonderful life?

Use my story as the base of a novel. Show how a gentle, naive woman CAN survive in the face of aggression. Demonstrate how to use the power of the mind to overcome every obstacle with time, space and patience.

And that's where fantasy came in. An inherited star moonstone ring sweeps Liliha, my heroine in Still Rock Water, away in random visions where she helps someone in distress. She's so much more than a woman borrowing the story of my life. Liliha took over and created her own circumstances. Her story will inspire each reader along the way to the joyful ending.


3. What is your latest book called and what is it about?

The title of my latest published book is Tidal Surge, the second in the Moonstone series. Liliha's daughter, full of angst and resentment, arrives in Cornwall to stay with her. When she slides one of her mother's bracelets up her arm, she is whisked into another personality in a vision where her bad feelings are lived through another body. The bracelet generates negative emotions. Mother and daughter battle in visions, neither aware of the other's involvement.


4. What was the inspiration for your book?

Balance fills every part of life. The good influence for Liliha's ring needs the equal and opposite effect. Hence, the bracelet induces evil thoughts and intentions. The novel explores a battle between good and evil in everyday life.


5. Where can we buy your books?

All six of my published books are available on Amazon.
I co-wrote four post-apocalyptic novels with Edith Parzefall, a contact through the IWW.
The characters from the Moonstone series are reincarnated in the future.
Here's my author page where you can find them all: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B007XP8D7C


6. What can we expect from you in the future?

I'm editing Seashell Effect at the moment. In the third of the Moonstone series, the novel explores what happens when Liliha attempts to contact and follow up one of the people she failed to change during a vision. She thinks of herself as a psychic detective, but her effort gets her into trouble.


7. Among your own books, have you a favorite book?  Favorite hero or heroine?

I love Harry, the bad boy in Liliha's stories. The way he changes due to her influence grabs your heart.


8. Do you plot ahead of time, or do you let the plot emerge as you write?

A rough idea of the story prompts me to begin writing. From there, the characters tend to take over and logic dictates what will happen.


9. Who are some of your favorite authors to read? Favorite books?

I read and read from the time I was young. Ann of Green Gables, The Famous Five and Pollyanna inspired me. In my twenties, I inherited my grandmother's Science Fiction collection published from as early as the Twenties. I devoured every one. Asimov, Tolstoy and Tolkien inspired me. Then, in my thirties, I read books about Edgar Cayce's 'readings' and the concept captivated me about past lives and what happens when we die. I loved Sarum, a massive novel about the Salisbury Cathedral through reincarnated builders. For me, characters need to be complex and to learn during each lifetime.


10. What would be your ultimate goal as a writer?

I want people to read my books and retain a clear message. If only I could share optimism with my readers. Anyone can find a way out of a dark situation if they remain steadfast.


Excerpt

Here's an excerpt from Seashell Effect, my current work in progress. It will give you a glimpse of how the visions work in the novel.
~~~~~~~~~~


        Light and dark flickered. Perfume wafted into her senses. Glad about being alone, Liliha tightened her muscles ready for the impending vision. With a sudden tilt, her perception spun out of control and twisted inside the tunnel of dreams.
        * * *
        I penetrate the fuzzy disturbance in my sight. A streetlight illuminates houses. Slender legs carry me along. High-heeled shoes click and echo in a dark street. I'm within a woman already. She recollects a recent conversation with giggling friends, during which someone calls her name. I experience the movement as Trudy glances over her shoulder at the man following her, wishing she could return to safety.
        Unlit houses stand side-by-side along the street fronted by small gardens. Trudy increases her pace toward the corner ahead, undecided about hammering on one of the doors to ask for help. Another friend lives in the next street. If she can just reach the end, she'll be safe.
        With me inside, her breath comes fast. We stumble.
        'You can do it', I whisper in her mind in an effort to calm her. 'Concentrate'.
        Gasping, we straighten and hurry on.
        Her jumbled thoughts override mine. 'Get to the gate. Someone better be inside. What if they're not? Can I reach home? Shoes are awkward ... throw them off. No. I'd have to stop'. We sob.
        I generate a surge of strength to her, and then make a mental leap to deal with the follower. Thank the Lord I'm not locked into Trudy on this occasion.
        In a flash, I hover over the man lurching behind, and then meld. He's young and drunk, out for a thrill. His inebriated thoughts don't divulge his name. I snatch random information. His plans for the woman ahead are lustful, possibly violent. Needing some street-cred, he'll tell his mates about his exploit.
        What can I do to slow him? He's bilious. I send the idea of doubling over and suggest a comforting image of relief.
        We stop, grunt and spill the contents of our stomach into a garden. Not pleasant. A house light flicks on. A growled curse comes from a high window. We gaze up at the twitching curtains. Humiliation withers our erection.
        A sour taste produces another retch. We swerve and retreat.
        All he wants is to crawl into bed. Maybe his mother will lay her soft hands on his head.  
        'You should be ashamed', I whisper. 'What will she think of this behavior when she hears reports?'
        He listens to the voice of reason. Rising alarm causes a stumble over a jutting pavement slab.
        He'll remember this lesson. I leave this revolting body.  
        I surge forward and rejoin Trudy, too panicked to notice his absence. I whisper, 'It's all right now. Slow down'. I hope she's listening. I empathize with the girl the same age as my own daughter Kaelyn. Before I leave, Trudy needs to conquer her fear.
        Someone ahead. She pulls up, heart fluttering.
        "Alright, love?" An old man stops and his dog sniffs her.
        "Help me," Trudy gasps. "There's someone following me."
        "Wait here," he says. "We'll take a look, won't we, Tiger?" They reach the corner and halt. "No one here. Come and see."
        Trudy doesn't want to face her fear. What if the old man's tricking her? She flexes, ready to run.
        I whisper, 'You're safe. The man came from the opposite direction'.
        After a huge breath, we step toward the man, checking his body language. He remains impassive. His dog jumps beside him, giving the occasional impatient yip. At last, we approach. The stalker is nowhere in sight.
        "Thank you." We relax.
        With relief replacing terror, Trudy's open to a nudge in the right direction. I whisper, 'When alone at night, carry a Mace spray. Always let someone know where you are. Take a mobile phone to contact the police'.
        With a determined nod, she accepts my suggestions as part of the normal inner voice guiding her.
        I lift away.
        * * *
        Inside the pub surrounded by chatter, Liliha rubbed her eyes. Appealing to someone's better nature usually worked. In a roundabout way, the method influenced the stalker. Most people possessed the inner prompt, just as they sometimes acted on outrageous ideas.
~~~~~~~~~~

Links

Website         http://francene--wordstitcher.weebly.com
daily blog      http://511580395457358476.weebly.com
twitter           @FranceneStanley
Facebook      http://fb.com/Authfs
Goodreads    https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5824616.Francene_Stanley

Still Rock Water is the first in the Moonstone series of paranormal novels set in the little village of St. Ives, Cornwall, England.

Liliha's life changes when she inherits her grandmother's star moonstone ring. Instead of playing the role of an Australian housewife, an apparition whisks her away to participate in a flood rescue. She dismisses the strange vision as a dream until it is repeated and grows stronger. Despite her unique ability to help others in distress, Liliha is powerless to alter her depressed, belittling husband. But transformation awaits her in the form of betrayal, losing her ring and immigrating to the other side of the Earth.

After a coastal storm, the St. Ives police discover the unique ring on a body and send it away for assessment. Experts at the British Museum offer Liliha an appointment.

Sweeping, epic in scope, spare and poetic, Liliha's story is as irresistible as the pull of her ancient moonstone ring. Still Rock Water is a whirlwind of sensory delight and mystery, told in spare and poetic prose, with characters so clearly drawn, their humanity rings across the deserts of ancient Egypt, through the annals of time and straight to the reader's heart. - Carol Kean. Author of Left on Stonehaven and Ironwolf.