Treasured & Tipsy Timeslip: Traveller Michelle Hiscox
Travel and make-believe go hand in hand. Whether we're in the present or the past, in a haunted castle, an enchanted forest or a broken down building, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and traveling the world can bring the imagination to life.
Please welcome this week's guest, fellow Canadian, Michelle Hiscox. She hails from Drumheller, Alberta. The dinosaur bones buried in the hills of her hometown inspired the first stories she ever wrote, and she feels blessed to walk those same hills with her daughter today.
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TRAVEL SPECIAL – 4 STOPS IN A NEW DAY AT MIDNIGHT
As the author of the paranormal romance, A New Day at Midnight, I researched many
haunting and dynamic locations to use as inspirational fodder for the settings
in my book. Below is a sample of places travelled by the Hearne family on their
centuries long journey from Romania to Montana territory.
POENARI
CASTLE, ROMANIA
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| Image Source: vampirewarzone.yolasite.com |
What a better inspiration for a paranormal tale than
the stomping grounds of Vlad the Impaler and his army of minions. Romania has also
been home to Romani people for centuries, and reflects the heritage of my main
character, Merik Hearne.
In the 15th century, Vlad the Impaler
brought Poenari Castle back from ruins to use it as a cliffside military
location near the Argus River valley. It afforded a view of all the land below
and a nearly impenetrable site of defense. It was in the Poenari area that Vlad
began the use of spikes to kill his victims, earning his famous moniker.
PALAZZO
DELLA MASCHERA GROTTESCA,
ROME
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| Image Source: www.romanmysteries.wordpress.com |
Built by Italian painter Federico Zuccari
beginning in 1592, the palace sits near the top of the Spanish Steps. The
windows and doors are adorned with the screaming mouths of ghouls, an
unforgettable site for any passerby.
THE SALOONS
OF MONTANA TERRITORY, UNITED STATES
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| Image Source: www.fineartamerica.com |
The clapboard wood saloon epitomizes the flavor
of the old west, when Montana Territory was rough, dangerous, and full of the
dreams of the people moving through to stake their claim and build better lives
for themselves and their families.
The alleyway to the side of the Cranston Saloon
provides the backdrop to tragic events in A
New Day at Midnight. The drink and debauchery often found in such locations
provides the perfect setting for the unravelling of a Vetala, or a demon, while
he both saves and destroys the unfortunate souls he finds there.
THE ROCKY
MOUNTAINS
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| Image Source: www.pinstopin.com |
The Rocky Mountain range extends over 3000 miles
through Canada, the United States, and New Mexico. It also accounts for a long
stretch of land through Montana, the home chosen by the Hearne family to build Rosehearne
Manor, a fortress set against forest and mountainside.
The manor started out as a single dwelling
surrounded by caravans and tents, and slowly grew to the stone monolith housing
generations of Romani families.
Difficult mountain conditions afford the
Hearne’s a measure of safety from the forces working against them.
The
Hearne Family Saga
Book
1
Michelle
Hiscox
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Bookkus Publishing
Date of Publication: February 14,
2015
ISBN: 0991709497
ASIN: B00TGOODU4
Page Count Print – 264
Page Count Electronic – 268
Word Count: 92,691
Cover Artist: Bookkus Publishing
Book Description:
When Merik Hearne finally lays
claim to the woman that betrayed him, she inspires much more than his need for
revenge—but is her love worth dying for again?
Condemned to play host to a
demon, the scarred Romani leader has amassed a fortune with only one goal in
mind—to possess Hannah Worthington, the traitorous beauty that has eluded him
for over a decade. With an exchange of coin, everything he has been striving
for is within reach but nothing is as he imagined. The tender, sharp-tongued
woman he encounters tests the bounds of his convictions and he is torn between
the promise of reckoning and longing for a love that once destroyed him.
Exchanged for a purse of gold and
informed she is to be a slave, Hannah vows she has not survived a lifetime of
loss only to wither under the likes of Merik Hearne. And she will do everything
she can to make sure he knows it. Despite his overbearing manner, his fierce
scars, and her own determination to escape him, she begins to see that
something beautiful might lie beneath…something that belongs only to her. She
must discover the angle from which the great lord plays before his dark desires
consume them both.
As they struggle to find truth
amid pasts marred by sorrow and secrecy, they are unaware that a vengeful
apostle orchestrates the rise of a forgotten god—and the end of their chance at
a life together.
Available at Amazon Amazon.ca Amazon.co.uk BN
Excerpt 1
As Merik looked
about the darkness of his cell with new eyes, he saw Hannah standing in the
corner. He knew she was not truly there, but the voice of the other ensured he
did not look away as it whispered in his ear. He saw her many times, always a
mirage, always torturous. Unsure if his rage outweighed his disappointment at
her absence, he listened.
She mocks you, young one. She told those men where
to find you. She told them lies about you. They could know nothing without her
betrayal. You will find her. Make her bleed. You will find her and make her pay
for each transgression. Sink your teeth deep within her and watch the blood
flow over the ground. Drink her dry until her offences are but a memory. It
will ease the agony, as nothing else will.
Merik saw her a
thousand times during his short stay in the cellar. The pain sliced through
him, and it would not ease no matter how much his father fed him. Nothing
helped to suffuse the suffering until he began seeing Hannah in the confines of
the cell.
He saw her
exactly as she looked that night at the clearing. In spite of himself, he found
himself reaching for her hand, and did so each time she appeared to him. Desire
bubbled to the surface and he despised it, closing his eyes against the sight
of her. The image played over and over in his mind, running like a crooked
wheel. He saw the woman who destroyed him, the woman who destroyed his
brothers, and he could think only of making her suffer—until he thought of
touching her again.
The bottle
shattered in his hand from the force of his grasp, and he looked down to see
shards of glass embedded within the flesh of his palm. When he looked up,
Hannah was gone.
Excerpt 2
Hannah realized
Merik had left her doors unlocked. Again. Did he believe she would stay now
that she knew his true name and nature? She dare not utter the real question
plaguing her, but it invaded her mind nonetheless.
Is he right? A
large ember escaped from the iron latticework in front of the fire, landing on
the rug at her feet. She watched it smoulder.
Smoke curled up
in delicate tendrils, disappearing before reaching the high ceiling. She stared
for several long moments, willing the flame to grow, to consume her. It held
the colour of Merik’s eyes, burning gold and crimson. A small flame flickered
to life, hungry for progress until she stamped it out with the heel of her
foot.
Rising from the
fire to flop on her bed, she stopped short as an echo rang through the hall.
Certain her battered senses played tricks on her, she pulled back her covers to
lay down but heard it again.
Whether it was a
call of rage, grief, or agony she could not distinguish. It came from Merik’s
quarters, echoing deep within the shadows of the hall. Padding to her door, she
warred between anger over his treatment of her and the desire to ease his pain.
She could not
ignore the fact he’d told her the truth. Pulling a robe about her shoulders,
she kicked off her charred slipper. Without consulting her mind, she made the
decision with her heart. She rested her hand on the door, opening the barrier
between her and the unknown.
“Shit. Shit,
shit, shit. What am I doing? I can stay in my rooms. There is hardly any need
to go out there.”
Another tortured
cry rose in the air, strengthening her resolve to help Merik.
Lighting a
candle, she forced herself to go into the hall. Another cry rang through the
air, and as she got closer to Merik’s chamber, she finally understood what he
was saying. Her name.
“I’m coming,
Merik.” Running to his room, she entered through the open door to see an empty
chamber. Desperation overrode the fear hammering her heart against her chest.
The room smelled of blood, of sickness. Could Vetala even get sick? Could they
die?
“No, please no,
not again. Merik? Merik, please call my name.”
He groaned. As
she followed the source of the noise, the candle shook in her hand. The hot wax
stung her flesh when she stopped several steps in front of a half-open door set
in the wall.
“Merik?” The
smell of death clung to the entrance and she gagged. The candle wobbled in her
hand. She steadied it, saying a quick thanks to God it did not go out. She
could not bear to go forth in the darkness without light. Setting the candle on
the floor, she swung the door wide. The candle flickered as she picked it up.
Fear twisted her guts and no matter how she tried, she could not stop her hands
from shaking. She took another step.
“Merik?” It took
her eyes several moments to see more than a foot from her face. When she saw
him in the dim light, she gasped. He now stood in front of her. It took her
several more moments to realize he was not standing of his own volition, but
rather restrained by chains embedded in the stone wall. When he lifted his
head, she covered her mouth to stifle a scream.
Eyes of molten
gold and crimson stared back at her. His jaw and facial bones were distended,
his hands curled into claws. The changes were much more severe than the few
instances she attributed to the loss of her mind.
“I…I…” Stepping
back toward the entrance, her gaze never left Merik’s. She turned her back on
him to commence a rather spineless retreat, but could not get her feet to
cooperate.
“Hannah?” The
voice held much more than pain. What? Desperation? Hope? She could not move as
her heart and mind waged war. Despite his appearance, she knew beneath the
angled bone protruding from his flesh, his distorted face, and the fangs
visible in his mouth, Merik stood in front of her. The man she met a decade
before. The man looking at her with the same single focused intensity with
which he always did. The man she loved.
Taking another
step and hearing nothing but her own harsh breathing, she took one more.
About
the Author:
Michelle Hiscox is a Paranormal
Romance fan and author who hails from Drumheller, Alberta. The dinosaur bones
buried in the hills of her hometown inspired the first stories she ever wrote,
and she feels blessed to walk those same hills with her daughter today. Crocus flowers
and dust bowls full of cactus never fail to inspire.
While her little girl and husband
provides many welcome distractions to writing, it's something she always finds
her way back to. Michelle is the proud, and slightly crazy, owner of two dogs
and three cats, all animals she loves more than she reasonably should. She's
been reading voraciously since she was a child and, one night, pulled her nose
from a book to start writing her own.
Website – http://www.michellehiscox.com
Amazon Author Page –http://www.amazon.com/l/B00VO2K990
Tour giveaway
5 print or ebook copies of A New Day at Midnight (winner’s choice, print available to US and Canadian Shipping Only)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
I just wanted to express my appreciation for the opportunity to post a segment on your site, and thank you for featuring my book. Much appreciated!
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