Today I'm pleased to have Colleen Halverson as my guest. She's sharing about what inspired her to write urban fantasy adventures. Be sure to check out her new release, Children of the Veil, as well as her great giveaway at the end of this post. Also, book #1 in her Aisling Chronicles, Through the Veil, is now on sale for 99 cents.
Writing an Adventure Tale
by Colleen Halverson
When I was a child, I consumed those “Choose Your Own
Adventure Tales,” crisscrossing through the pages of those yellowed paperbacks
until I ran through every single scenario, every possibility. In my
adolescence, I read all my brothers’ fantasy novels—the Hobbit, Lord of the
Rings, Xanth, Elfquest. I spent the longest winter of my life huddled without
heat in our old brick house in the Appalachian Mountains rereading the
Dragonlance series from start to finish seven times. When I was a teenager,
someone placed On the Road in my
hands, and a whole world of possibilities opened up to me. Everyone told me the
world was an unsafe place for women, full of terrible people with horrible
intentions. They told me girls had no place wandering the world alone, backpacking
through the woods, hitchhiking, flying to far off countries, taking chances,
living by instincts. Yet, that’s exactly what I did, and it transformed me
utterly.
In all those adventure books in all those years, I
never once read a story about a young woman traveling the path by herself,
going on a quest by herself. In a stoned haze while driving through the twisty
and narrow roads of the Colorado Mountains, I turned to my driver—a wild,
laughing, red-haired hippie girl named Rhonda—while a Neil Young song blared
through her frail speakers. The song was, “Ohio.” You know the lyrics,
Ten soldiers and Nixon’s coming,
We’re finally on our own.
We’re finally on our own.
I turned to her, two lost girls on the road, and said,
“That’s us, Rhonda. We’re finally on our own.” It was a statement of fact. We
had no bearings, no history to tell us we belonged on this journey. We had set
out very much alone, and as the horrors of the Bush years closed in, we knew in
those cold mountains that smelled of frost and pine, we were absolutely on the
outside of things.
I recently read Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, and I closed the book with tears in my eyes. Thank God, I thought. Thank God, my daughter will have a story
that will tell her that she can be wild. That she can go on any journey she
wants to, if she wants to. CHILDREN OF THE VEIL is very much an adventure
tale, a story that takes my heroine Elizabeth on an epic journey toward
self-understanding. Perhaps it’s the culmination of all that wandering, but I
like to think it’s a love letter to the person I was in my early twenties. As
if to say, keep wandering. Someday, you will find what you’re looking for.
Children of the Veil
The
Aisling Chronicles
Book
2
Colleen
Halverson
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Entangled
Date of Publication: October 26,
2016
ISBN: 9781633757738
ASIN: B01LZDAFQY
Number of pages: 400
Word Count: 120K
Book Description:
Elizabeth Tanner has one goal: to
find her mother in whatever dimension she’s imprisoned. But to do that, she has
to face her estranged father, and to do that, she needs a shot of whiskey…or
seven. But after an attempt on her life and the return of her lost love, she
wakes up with one hell of a hangover and a whole barrage of questions.
Finn O’Connell doesn’t know why the
Fianna want him to aid Elizabeth in her search, but he’ll take any excuse to be
near her again. Together, they dive headlong into the shadows of her mother’s
secrets and find themselves embroiled in a Fae rebellion that will test Finn’s
loyalties and their love.
With the Faerie realm verging on
chaos, Elizabeth and Finn will embark on a quest that will lead them from the
streets of Chicago to London’s seedy Fae underground. But rescuing Elizabeth’s
mother means journeying to a place Finn can’t follow, and Elizabeth is forced
to make a choice between finding her at last or saving her own soul.
Teaser
Excerpt:
Elizabeth Tanner has one goal: find
her mother and free her. But after an attempt on her life and the return of her
lost love, her search leads to more questions than answers. Finn O’Connell
doesn’t know why the Fianna want him to help Elizabeth, but he’ll take any
excuse to be near her. Diving into the shadows of her mother’s secrets throws
them into a Fae rebellion that will test their love, and rescuing Elizabeth’s
mother means making a choice between finding her or saving her own soul.
Excerpt 1
My
legs buckled and he snatched me into his arms, my head lolling against his
chest. I breathed in the smell of leather, fresh folded laundry, and that pure,
manly scent of Finn-ness. God, I had missed him.
“Who…?” I managed to say, the words feeling like caked mud in my mouth.
He didn’t answer, but slipped me into his car and I sank into the leather seat, darkness eating at the edge of my sight. The purring engine lulled me into a daze, and I must have passed out because the next thing I knew, we were stumbling up the stairs to my apartment.
“I live here,” I slurred.
“I know,” Finn mumbled, his muscled arm propping me up. “Where are your keys?”
Snowflakes collected on the crown of his head, his eyebrows knitting together. The curve of his mouth filled my vision, and my fingers slipped over the soft skin, tracing the delicate cupid bow on his top lip. His face softened, multiple Finns swimming through the muted streetlight.
“Mmmmm…” I murmured, running my hand against the side of his face, trying to keep from seeing double. “Stay still.”
He placed a gentle hand over my hand. “Elizabeth, your keys. It’s freezing out here.”
I brought his palm next to my face, brushing my lips against his callused fingers. Need burned through my body, and I fell against his broad chest, covering his mouth with mine with a moan. For a moment, he kissed me back, his hands pressing firm against my shoulders. The falling snow tickled my neck, sending icy trails down my spine, and I pressed into him seeking his warmth. He made a low sound in his throat.
“You’re drunk,” he whispered.
“I don’t care.” I whispered into his ear.
Finn disentangled himself from my arms, and I slipped on a patch of ice, falling on my ass with a giggle. He leaned over me, patting my jeans in search for my keys. His hands strayed to my waist, tickling my side, and I laughed, grabbing his hands.
He hovered over me, his hair grazing the firm line of his jaw. “Elizabeth, stop. I mean it. Where are your keys?”
He rifled in my coat, and something landed on the balcony with a thud. The book of Yeats’ poetry lay in the snow, white powder quickly accumulating on its worn cover. Finn made to grab it, but I snatched it away, wiping it off and sticking it safe back inside my coat. He stared down at me and swallowed hard, the tinkling crystal of falling snow the only sound in the silent street.
“Elizabeth…” He whispered, his hand brushing away a wet lock of hair plastered to my cheek.
I shrugged away, rifling in my jeans pocket for my keys and threw them at him. A wave of dizziness washed over me and I curled up on the balcony, willing the snow to blanket over me, desiring nothing but to become the winter so I could sleep for four months and reemerge whole again. Stinging numbness gripped my fingers and toes, and I shivered, burying my head against my arm.
“Let’s get you inside.” Finn’s arm slipped beneath my shoulders and under my knees.
“Who…?” I managed to say, the words feeling like caked mud in my mouth.
He didn’t answer, but slipped me into his car and I sank into the leather seat, darkness eating at the edge of my sight. The purring engine lulled me into a daze, and I must have passed out because the next thing I knew, we were stumbling up the stairs to my apartment.
“I live here,” I slurred.
“I know,” Finn mumbled, his muscled arm propping me up. “Where are your keys?”
Snowflakes collected on the crown of his head, his eyebrows knitting together. The curve of his mouth filled my vision, and my fingers slipped over the soft skin, tracing the delicate cupid bow on his top lip. His face softened, multiple Finns swimming through the muted streetlight.
“Mmmmm…” I murmured, running my hand against the side of his face, trying to keep from seeing double. “Stay still.”
He placed a gentle hand over my hand. “Elizabeth, your keys. It’s freezing out here.”
I brought his palm next to my face, brushing my lips against his callused fingers. Need burned through my body, and I fell against his broad chest, covering his mouth with mine with a moan. For a moment, he kissed me back, his hands pressing firm against my shoulders. The falling snow tickled my neck, sending icy trails down my spine, and I pressed into him seeking his warmth. He made a low sound in his throat.
“You’re drunk,” he whispered.
“I don’t care.” I whispered into his ear.
Finn disentangled himself from my arms, and I slipped on a patch of ice, falling on my ass with a giggle. He leaned over me, patting my jeans in search for my keys. His hands strayed to my waist, tickling my side, and I laughed, grabbing his hands.
He hovered over me, his hair grazing the firm line of his jaw. “Elizabeth, stop. I mean it. Where are your keys?”
He rifled in my coat, and something landed on the balcony with a thud. The book of Yeats’ poetry lay in the snow, white powder quickly accumulating on its worn cover. Finn made to grab it, but I snatched it away, wiping it off and sticking it safe back inside my coat. He stared down at me and swallowed hard, the tinkling crystal of falling snow the only sound in the silent street.
“Elizabeth…” He whispered, his hand brushing away a wet lock of hair plastered to my cheek.
I shrugged away, rifling in my jeans pocket for my keys and threw them at him. A wave of dizziness washed over me and I curled up on the balcony, willing the snow to blanket over me, desiring nothing but to become the winter so I could sleep for four months and reemerge whole again. Stinging numbness gripped my fingers and toes, and I shivered, burying my head against my arm.
“Let’s get you inside.” Finn’s arm slipped beneath my shoulders and under my knees.
Playlist for Children of the Veil on spotify:
About
the Author:
As a child, Colleen Halverson used
to play in the woods imagining worlds and telling stories to herself. Growing
up on military bases, she found solace in her local library and later decided
to make a living sharing the wonders of literature to poor, unsuspecting
college freshmen. After backpacking through Ireland and singing in a
traditional Irish music band, she earned a PhD in English with a specialization
in Irish literature. When she’s not making up stories or teaching, she can be
found hiking the rolling hills of the Driftless area of Wisconsin with her
husband and two children. CHILDREN OF THE VEIL is the follow up to her debut
urban fantasy novel, THROUGH THE VEIL.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cbhalverson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cbhalverson/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/colleen_halverson/
Tour
giveaway:
Signed copy of THROUGH THE VEIL,
Book 1 The Aisling Chronicles
Signed copy of CHILDREN OF THE
VEIL, Book 2 The Aisling Chronicles
A select collection of pins,
patches, and stickers from Creepy Company
$50 Amazon Gift Card
OPEN TO US ONLY
Direct link
JOIN MARSHA'S MAILING LIST and receive a free copy of her paranormal romance story RULER OF THE NIGHT.
Read Marsha's COON HOLLOW TALES of paranormal romance and her ENCHANTED BOOKSTORE LEGENDS for adventurous epic fantasy romance. For a FREE ebook download, read her historic fantasy, LE CIRQUE DE MAGIE, available at Amazon and Smashwords.
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