Reincarnated Lovers And Writing
When I was a child, I used to dream of three things: to time-travel extensively, to wake up one day in medieval England transformed into a boy who served Richard Lionheart or to one day discover I could run so fast the ground blurred under my feet. The time-travel thing never happened. Neither did the page thing. Maybe a good thing, as should I have ended up in medieval England it is likely I would not have met Richard—a most absentee king—but rather his not-so-honourable brother, John. As to running like the wind, well I did run a lot. And yes, I was very fast. But not that fast.
That speed-running dream has never quite left me. When no one sees, I will take off up a steep incline and pretend I am as fast as a cheetah. Anyone seeing me would probably fall over backwards with laughter at the likeness, because whatever else I might be these days, I am not a graceful cat streaking along the ground.
The benefit of being an author is that one can live vicariously through one’s characters. My urge to time-travel has resulted in a series called The Graham Saga which features reluctant time-traveller Alex Lind, her 17th century husband Matthew Graham, and their many, many adventures in Scotland and Maryland of the 1600s. That medieval page dream of mine led to a four-book series set in the 14th century (I have long since fallen out of love with Richard. Gallant warrior, yes, brilliant general, absolutely, but good king? Not so much…) With my characters in The King’s Greatest Enemy I have donned gambesons and kirtles (not in combination), I have buckled sword belts, pondered how best to vary the Lenten fare of fish, more fish even more fish.
In my latest series, The Wanderer, I have at last achieved that dream of running so fast everything but the sound of my footfalls disappears, my vision narrowing into a chute as I thunder towards the goal. Okay, I’m not the one doing the running. Helle Madsen does, a young woman who has just had her life significantly turned upside down by events so strange she very much wants to laugh them off as figments of her imagination. Except that she can’t, seeing as she is right in the midst of things.
Helle is a financial professional. She is happy among excel sheets and forecasts, enjoys digging into Share Purchase Agreements and turn-around plans—as us financial people do. And if you, dear reader, have a less than happy relationship with numbers, allow me to say that some of us love them. Helle most certainly does. Pragmatic and successful, she is in London to add a certain flair to her resumé, hence she is working at a firm called Woolf & Partner. Turns out Mr Woolf is the real wolf-in-fleece type. Turns out Mr Woolf recognises Helle the moment he sees her, even if she knows for a fact that she’s never met him before. Turns out—fortunately for Helle—that a certain Jason also recognises her and is determined to keep her safe from Woolf. This time round, seeing as he failed spectacularly 3 000 years ago…
So there is poor Helle, trying to get her head round the fact that she is, apparently, a reborn soul, a woman who has lived life after life with no memories to burden her. Jason remembers everything as does Woolf. And while Helle may have no firm recollections, she did recognise Jason when they first met, even if she can find no rational explanation for why she did. After all, she’s never clapped eyes on this tall handsome man with hair the colour of mahogany before. Except that it seems she has… It makes Helle’s head ache.
I enjoy making my protagonists suffer. I believe it builds character. Plus, I had this dream about running like the wind… Which is how Helle, to her horrified astonishment, discovers she can run so fast people call her a freak. A useful talent, it turns out, but one Helle has major problems accepting—or even talking about. Where Jason sees the beauty in her speed, is awed by her feline grace, by the power that surges through her, Helle mostly wants to find a duvet and pull it over her head and pretend none of this weird stuff ever happened. Unfortunately for her, she’s not the one writing the book.
I still have those moments when I wish I had the speed of a stampeding zebra. Just as I would like to be able to dive like a dolphin. Which is why, dear peeps, if you ever see me on a beach, you will find me tumbling in the waves, pretending I can indeed leap out of the water as gracefully as a dolphin does. If I’m not practising my running skills, that is!
And as to what happens to Helle, her re-discovered ancient lover and their personal nemesis, Sam Woolf, theirs is a story laced with adventure, romance and quite a lot of tension. There are times when Helle wants to flee it all. But she can’t, not now that she has found Jason again. That, dear readers, is most fortunate for me: without Helle, there would be no epic time-spanning love story to tell!
A Torch in His Heart (The Wanderer #1):
In the long lost ancient past, two men fought over the girl with eyes like the Bosporus under a summer sky. It ended badly. She died. They died.
Since then, they have all tumbled through time, reborn over and over again. Now they are all here, in the same place, the same time and what began so long ago must finally come to an end.
Ask Helle Madsen what she thinks about reincarnation and she’ll laugh in your face. Besides, Helle has other stuff to handle, what with her new, exciting job in London and her drop-dead but seriously sinister boss, Sam Woolf. And then one day Jason Morris walks into her life and despite never having clapped eyes on him before, she recognises him immediately. Very weird. Even more weird is the fact that Sam and Jason clearly hate each other’s guts. Helle’s life is about to become extremely complicated and far too exciting.
About the Author:
Had Anna been allowed to choose, she’d have become a time-traveller. As this was impossible, she became a financial professional with two absorbing interests: history and writing. Anna has authored the acclaimed time travelling series The Graham Saga, set in 17th century Scotland and Maryland, as well as the equally acclaimed medieval series The King’s Greatest Enemy which is set in 14th century England. She has recently released Smoke in Her Eyes, the second in her latest series, The Wanderer. This time, she steps out of her normal historical context and delivers fast-paced contemporary romantic suspense with paranormal and time-slip ingredients. She has loved writing it – she hopes her readers will like reading it just as much. Find out more about Anna by visiting her website, www.annabelfrage.com or her Amazon page, http://Author.to/ABG Follow Anna on Twitter https://twitter.com/abelfrageauthor or on FB https://www.facebook.com/annabelfrageauthor/
Category: On Writing
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