Author Spotlight - Excerpt from Washed Under the Waves

I hope you've enjoyed Gloria's week on the blog. Gloria's giving away a copy of "Washed Under the Waves." All you have to do is read the excerpt and leave a comment for Gloria today, Sat, & Sun on the blog. On Monday, a name will be pulled out of a hat as the lucky winner. Be sure to leave your email addy so we can get in contact with you.

Smiles
Moderator Steph
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Athan grasped her elbow. "Come, Lady. I will escort you to your chamber."

How formal. How unlike the day they had shared. Tayte felt a quick sting of tears.

Alone with him in the hall, she gulped and asked before she lost her nerve. "I know everything is so mixed up that it must seem we’ll never be ready for the prince, and I cannot see how he would want me if he were here, anyway, but must you stay so distant and—"

"Enough!"

Though he snapped the word softly it held enough force to clamp her jaws. Stupidly, more tears slipped onto her cheeks.
"Tayte ... Lady ... please."

His warm palm traveled from her elbow to her shoulder, across to the bare curve of her neck, and he stepped closer into her space.

Tayte swallowed.

His thumb delved into the hollow of her throat.

More tears crashed onto her cheeks. Why was she crying? Could he feel her confusion?

"Oh, Tayte." His hand slid higher, under her hair. His thumb caught her jaw and drew her face upward.

She stared into his sweet, angular features. She could feel his eyes, hidden in the darkness of the hall, scanning her face, searching.

With his other hand, he traced her eyebrow with the tips of his fingers. She could feel his tremors even though he barely brushed across her cheekbone. Quivers unsteadied her as well, and she swayed on her feet.

His hold at her neck tightened.

"Athan." She didn’t recognize her voice, soft, aching, needing him in ways she couldn’t put into words.

"Don’t, please." He cupped her cheeks in the warm curve of his fingers and lifted her onto her toes and into his chest.

Her palms connected and the heat beneath his soft velte shirt surged up her arms and into her heart. Wide-eyed, she stared up at his face now digiti from her own.

He swallowed hard.

She licked her lower lip.

His gaze dropped and his fingers flexed, digging into her skin.

She gathered the velte, seeking a touch of stability, drawing herself closer. "Make it all better, Athan." She hadn’t realized the cry of her heart until it hung in the air between them.

"I cannot." He released her abruptly and turned, nearly ramming his head into the wall of the hallway. "I cannot at this time, Princess."

Rejection stabbed through her. Then pain, brilliant and sapping. Her knees buckled and she dropped to the floor. Who were they kidding? She wasn’t a princess. There wasn’t one royal thing about her. She couldn’t protect her cousins. She couldn’t teach her island. And she couldn’t attract a tutor, let alone a prince.

The thought seared through her mind, and she gasped. Really? Had she just attempted to get Athan to kiss her? After the debacle with Crystal and Decus? After meeting the King!

Horrified, Tayte couldn’t catch her breath. She needed air, but she couldn’t find it, couldn’t draw it in. Drowning. She was drowning without water. Where was the King?

She struggled to find her medallion.

Author Spotlight - Gloria Clover shares her favorite authors

I don't know if it defeats my promotional purposes to toot some other authors' horns during my spotlight, but the truth is I like to read just as much as I like to write, and other authors put together a good story too. So I'll tell you a little about some of my favorite speculative romances, though I don't know if the authors even call them that.

The most recent I've read is Jill Williamson's series that starts with From Darkness Hid. It has great characters, moving plot, and some of my all time favorite plot devices. Particularly character in disguise. (Yes, I used that in Washed Under the Waves.) In a later book in the series, Jill uses some amnesia (which I've used in two different contemporary romances I've written). In fact, I think the only plot device that I adore that Jill didn't put in her series was identical twins. :-)

Another favorite is Sharon Hinck's The Restorer, also the first in a three book series. This one starts in our world and moves into a speculative dimension. This series also has great characters and a plot that keeps thickening rather than melting as the stories progress. Sharon shows how putting your theme/God truths in a different world helps distance it from your readers so they can grasp them more easily. For example, I remember being convicted of the importance of praise even in tough times while reading this book. (I tried that with the theme of entertainment in Washed Under the Waves -- the approach, not the importance of praise.)

Another good speculative romance, if you are in the mood, is Linda Wichman's Legend of the Emerald Rose. The hero and heroine are descendants of King Arthur and Merlin. And I don't really know what more needs to be said because that in itself is pretty cool.

I suspect speculative romance in the Christian market will become more popular as the secular market tires of vampires, werewolves, demons, and immortals, because I truly believe that there is something in every human God created that hungers for Him and hungers for Truth and isn't satisfied with lesser tastes. That's one of the reasons that I chose to put my speculative fiction into this world. We aren't speculating on the Truth.

What's one truth you've learned or been reminded of that came from a novel you read recently?

Author Spotlight - Gloria Clover shares her favorite movie

Let's talk about The Princess Bride. Though not as well know as Star Wars, Star Trek, or even Lord of the Rings, it turns out that the Princess Bride has its own cult following. I first saw this movie in college where I thought it was cute, but a little goofy. I've watched it numerous times since, and I think I love it more and more each time I watch it.

A few years ago I watched it with a group of teenagers from my church, many of which had never seen it before. What a pleasure when some of my favorite lines slid into their ears for the first time and they grabbed the magic of timeless film.

Because it's one of my family's favorite movies, we can all quote it in various situations. When heading off to do something: "Have fun storming the castle." After a particularly rough day: "You just shook your head. Doesn't that make you happy?" If my husband forgets his strength: "Gently!" And, of course, if we happen to stumble across a really poor movie or book, "([Skipping, the Lord's name,] Grandpa, what'd you read me this thing for?"

Which, I hope, none of you will be saying after you've finished Washed Under the Waves. But if you do, then I just suggest you read it again, and see if it doesn't get better with each reading, just like the Princess Bride.

What is your favorite quote from the Princess Bride?
　

Author Spotlight - Gloria Clover talks about her passion for speculative fiction

All fiction that I've written over the years has always had a romance genre feel to it. I've written 20,000 word novellas and 50,000 word category, and 65,000 word cozy mystery with major romantic elements, and an 80,000 word stand alone contemporary romance. Washed Under the Waves is the longest, (95,000 words) and first speculative I've written. Like I mentioned yesterday, I'm not much on research, but nor do I want to get the facts wrong, so I've just steered clear of attempting to write historical romance. But with this set up of futuristic ... that opens all kinds of creative doors.

Washed Under the Waves, though set in the unknown future at least centuries beyond our current time, takes place on an island that has only been touched by the modern world two times in its history. So the island's setting is simple, non-technological, and often reads like a medieval society. With a few modern touches -- language, harnessing natural gas, and their literature.

The founders of Undae were Roman citizens from the first century B.C. so a lot of the setting centers around that society. They have a Roman bathhouse, amphitheater, and a spattering of Latin words. But because of the two touches with the outside world, they also read in English and use post-electrovian phrases in their dialogue as well.

Then, there are some speculative elements. Probably the biggest one is the medallion that takes the King's children right into the throne room. But there is other speculation on my part, particularly of how society will develop in the next couple hundred years -- which leads us to the pirates with lasers part of the novel.

All that is, of course, to keep the reader grounded in a simple society that is really in the future. With the biggest thing to remember that this world I created is in our world, on earth. The King is our King.

What do you like about speculative fiction? And if you've never tried it, what would entice you to read one?

Author Spotlight - Q&A wth Gloria Clover

STEPH: I don't much about Washed Under The Waves. What's it about?

GLORIA: My pitch line is: The Princess Bride meets the King of kings.

Washed Under the Waves is a speculative romance, set in the unknown future at such a time when the King sends out his children to reclaim his lost lands. The idea of the series is that each story will be set on a different island in the Archipelago of Solomnus. These islands are somewhere in our world that we just don't know about/see now (for whatever reason.) Each story will focus on a different prince or princess sent from the King and a responding heroine/hero that already resides on the island, dealing with a different deception that holds the people of that island captive.

In Washed Under the Waves, Prince Geoffrey Athan D'Ambrose is sent out first. He has some pride issues, so I gave him a sweet, guileless heroine in Lady Tayte Bashan. She knows she's a poor ruler and even wonders if she should be ruling at all.

But the King is always about bigger issues than the obvious ones, so he tells Athan to disguise himself as a tutor instead of the prophesied prince ... and the romance develops from there.

STEPH: Where did you find the inspiration for it?

GLORIA: This seems silly, but I decided I wanted to write a speculative novel in an unknown place because I wanted to work on writing better scene descriptions, and I hate to be told I got the facts wrong. So I thought: It's my made-up place. If I want loquats and plums growing on the same island, I'll make it that way.



Yep, that was the original spark for going speculative.

STEPH: How long did it take you to write?

GLORIA: Rough draft, probably about 10 months. I'm not a speedy writer and I only write a few hours a day, maybe on average 4 days a week.

STEPH: How important is setting to the novel?

GLORIA: I don't like writing description. I know it's important to have the reader grounded. Particularly in Fantasy and Sci Fi. But I'm not a big fan of details for the sake of details. I'm practicing and trying to be more setting oriented. But I'm not there yet.
5. Did you have to do a lot of research for the novel?

I am a Seat of the Pants researcher. I don't research until I hit a place in my novel and I need to know __________. Then I Google. And may I just say, the "I'm feeling lucky" button is my friend.

STEPH: Hollywood just told you they want to make a movie of your novel. Cast the leads!

GLORIA: Ah. This is the only novel where I ever picked a movie star before I wrote the book. I actually googled Orlando Bloom pictures and took notes on specific characteristics of his face. Then I closed out those pictures and wrote my descriptions of Athan from those notes.

Tayte's character actress needs to be young and innocent and able to do "simple." I'm not up on the up-and-coming young actresses. When I made the book trailer, I used Catherine Zeta Jones because I knew she had long, black hair, the most telling of Tayte's physical characteristics.

STEPH: What do you want people to take away from the novel?

GLORIA: That the King writes the best story for each of us. Life may be or seem like a pain, but God always has purpose. And though we think if we had the power, we would rule the world a better way, we're wrong. We'd just make it worse. (Look what we do with the limited power we have.) :-)

STEPH: Are you a plotter or a panster?

GLORIA: I plot gently. Loosely. Like I try to live. Willing to embrace whatever comes my way. I know some back story. I know some internal conflicts. I try to have a few external plot points to be working toward.

When I start writing Washed Under the Waves, I knew Undae's (the island's) history, so I knew Tayte's and her people's history. I didn't have much on Athan. He was from the King. He was going to be the best guy I could write (with pride issues.) At the end of the first chapter, when he sees Tayte's black hair for the first time, I wrote:

"It took him a moment to realize he had just ogled her like a slave trader preparing to purchase. It took him another moment to realize her hair was as black as the dungeon he’d been born in. Black as a storm night. Black as the hair of Undae royalty. She was the princess?"

Well, I knew all that except ... what's this about Athan being born in a dungeon? Where did that come from? He's a child of the King. But, suddenly, Athan had some back story, too.

And that's how I write.

STEPH: What's your writing space like?



GLORIA: The spare bedroom in our little white box. It's about 10' by 12' with two short, high windows. I can see nothing but clouds out the one my desk faces, except that they recently built a cell tower that sneaks into view i

STEPH: Tell us a little about the state you live in.

GLORIA: I'll make the distinction to say that I'm from western Pennsylvania, or PA as we say in PA. We have four seasons -- Pre-winter, Winter, Post-winter, and Road construction. Actually, we do have very distinct, all four seasons here. This year we had a wet spring and a quite warm summer for this area. Usually we have only one week where the temperatures reach 90 degrees. This year we had nearly a month. I've heard that we are the third most overcast area in the USA. That's easy to believe it is true.

I still live in a rural area, small farms, helpful neighbors. Don't be afraid to drive if you want to go anywhere, but Pittsburgh, Erie, and Youngstown, OH are all within an hour's drive. We call the carbonated drinks, "pop." We often pronounce the small river (creek) as what most people get in their necks (crick), and wash often comes out like "warsh." And if you hear someone use the phrase "yins," yeah, well, that's western PA for the plural you. Here's my last colloquialism:

Back in the day, when I was writing my first full novel and had set it in western PA (write what you know), I had my heroine straightening her home before the hero arrived. In western PA we call that "redding up" the house. I didn't have any clue how to spell the word. I'd never seen it in print. Befuddled, I asked my mother. She calmly explained that was just a word used around here and that I should probably choose another. I couldn't think of another word. I still remember her face when she suggested, "Clean."