Interview with Author Laura Vosika

My guest today is Laura Vosika.  Hello, Laura!  Welcome to Writing in the Modern Age!  It’s such a pleasure to have you here today.

Can you tell us a little bit about your book? When did it come out? Where can we get it?

http://www.amazon.com/Water-Wide-Blue-Bells-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B00HLRDAGQ/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392662075&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=Laura+Voiska


The Water is Wide, the third book of The Blue Bells Chronicles, continues the story of two men, polar opposites but for their opposite looks, who switch places in time.  The story started in Blue Bells of Scotland, the story of an arrogant, self-centered modern musician, Shawn Kleiner, whose girlfriend Amy finally has enough and finally abandons him in the ruins of a medieval castle.  He wakes up in the wrong century, mistaken for the devout and responsible Highland warrior, Niall Campbell, and expected to go on a dangerous mission to save Scotland at the Battle of Bannockburn.


The Water is Wide continues the story as Amy, pregnant with Shawn's child, searches through medieval records and ancient monasteries for the secret to rescuing Shawn from the brutal time in which he's trapped.  As she and her new friend, Angus, search, and grow ever closer, they are unaware of the danger that is stalking them and Amy's newborn son--a child prophesied to protect the timeline.


It came out on January 1, 2014.


It is available in print and e-book.  It can be ordered from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or through any brick and mortar book store. 


To buy through Amazon, go to:





Is there anything that prompted your latest book? Something that inspired you?

The Water is Wide is the third in what I expect to be a five book series.  It started with Blue Bells of Scotland, which was inspired by a few things.  Years ago, I loved the book In the Keep of Time, by Margaret Anderson, which tells the story of four siblings who go into a Scottish keep and come down the stair again to find themselves among a medieval clan.  The idea captured my imagination.  As a trombone player, I was quite familiar with the solo Blue Bells of Scotland, which was in turn based on the old folk song by the same name.  The lyrics, about streaming banners and noble deeds, also captured my attention.  The third influence was simply a flash of an image of a man so self-centered and obnoxious as to gamble away his livelihood and think nothing of conning his girlfriend to get his instrument back. This man became Shawn Kleiner, who gambles away his trombone.

So, when did you know you wanted to write?  Or has it always been a pastime of yours?

I've been writing since I was 8 years old.  I used to write short stories and 'bind' them into books, which my teacher set out with the other books on the classroom shelf.  I continued writing throughout high school and college, completing my first novel when I was 24.

That's awesome, Laura!

Do you have any favorite authors?

I love Margaret Anderson, of course, but my all-time favorites are C.S. Lewis, both his fiction and non-fiction, and Michael Creighton.  I'm also a huge fan of Brendan Carroll's Tempo Rubato: Stolen Time, which is a wonderful story of Mozart brought into the present day. 

Do you write in a specific place?  Time of day?


I usually start writing as soon as my boys leave for school, and continue writing throughout the morning and early afternoon, until it's time to get ready for work.  I teach music lessons most afternoons.

Are there any words you'd like to impart to fellow writers?  Any advice?
 

Keep writing.  Keep editing.  It's all about simply making the time to do a little bit every day.  Apart from that, the best thing I ever did was find a good writers' critique group.  I'm part of the Night Writers of Maple Grove here in Minnesota, and they constantly improve my writing, settings, characterizations, and storylines with their input.
That's good advice, Laura.

Readers, here is the blurb for The Water is Wide.

World-renowned musician Shawn Kleiner vanished in the night among the ruins of a Scottish castle.  While the world searches, one woman, the mother of his child, knows the truth: he is trapped seven hundred years in the past.  While they struggle to reunite across the centuries, an unseen shadow crosses their path--an evil that will threaten the life of a child prophesied to protect history.


An evil from the past walks today....


Here is an excerpt.


Glenmirril Castle, on the shore of Loch Ness, 1314



The sun rose over Glenmirril Castle, its rosy fingers touching Shawn’s eyes, where he slept in the tower. He woke slowly, growing gradually aware of the deep chill in his bones. The cold from the flagstones cut through his cloak. Winter air brushed his cheek, like his mother had years ago, whispering to wake up. He stayed in the dark behind his eyelids, locked in hope. The past days and weeks drifted through his mind, of midnight raids, MacDougall’s gallows, pretending to be Niall at Niall’s marriage, just days ago. He’d asked God, he’d defended God to Niall, setting him straight that God was Love, not Hell. He’d learned his lesson about Amy and treating people better. So God would surely work the magic in the tower again, slide the centuries up, one against the other, and tip him back into his right time.

His head thrummed with alcohol. He opened his eyes cautiously. The wineskin lay flaccid by his side. The tower walls rose around him, etched against dawn. Mist floated over the flagstones. It looked as it had last night, in 1314. It looked as it had the night he and Amy fought, months ago, in the twenty-first century.

Voices sounded on the stair. He strained to hear if they were medieval Gaelic or modern English. He sat up, slowly, putting off the moment of finding out whether the switch had happened, hoping. Footsteps fell on the stairs, light feminine steps. He scrambled to his feet, his heart beating. It was Amy! By some miracle, it was Amy, come back for him! 




Author Bio

 


Laura Vosika is the author of The Blue Bells Chronicles, the story of two men who switch places in time. It begins with Blue Bells of Scotland, continue with The Minstrel Boy and The Water is Wide, and will finish with Westering Home and The Battle is Over. 

She grew up in the military, visiting salt mines, castles in Europe, and the historic sites of America’s East Coast. In addition to writing, she holds degrees in music and education. She’s worked as a freelance musician on harp, trombone, and flute.  Over the past twenty-five years, she has taught private music lessons, school music and band. She is also the mother of nine children.
  



Books: 

    Blue Bells Trilogy:

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Bells-Scotland-Book-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B002T460DG/ref=sr_1_sc_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1392662075&sr=8-3-spell&keywords=Laura+Voiska




http://www.amazon.com/Minstrel-Boy-Blue-Bells-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B007A389JY/ref=sr_1_sc_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1392662075&sr=8-2-spell&keywords=Laura+Voiska
  

http://www.amazon.com/Water-Wide-Blue-Bells-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B00HLRDAGQ/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392662075&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=Laura+Voiska


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