Rebekah’s Magic Touch.

Rebekah L Purdy celebrated the launch of her latest book The Fairy Godmother Files: Cinderella Complex last week.

The book, published by Astrea Press, is the third in two years for this extraordinary mom of six from Greenville, Michigan.

The story of teen fairy godmother Maggie Winters follows My Dad’s a Paranormal Investigator: Seeking Shapeshifters (the follow up to which is her current project) and Staking Shadows, a darker tale of forbidden love in a post-apocalyptic setting.

Rebekah’s output is even more impressive when added to the fact that besides six children and a menagerie of pets, she commutes 120 miles every day to a fast-paced job in the court system.

“Some days are easier than others, “says Rebekah. “I really try to plan my scenes in my head while I’m working at the day job or during my commute. I also keep my notebook by me so if I have an idea for a plotline/dialogue I quickly jot it down. Knowing I’ve only got sixty-minutes to get words down is a great motivator.”

Keeping family time and writing time separate is important to Rebekah, although her husband and children understand if she needs to take time out to meet a deadline. Her own family background has played a huge part in her writing career.

“Writing was kind of an escape for me growing up. My family moved A LOT. And although I did cheerleading and made friends quickly, I liked having a place I could kind of lose myself. Creating characters and stories became my outlet. “

Rebekah’s stories focus on the paranormal, and with books about shapeshifters, fairy godmothers and soul-sucking monsters under her belt, it’s no surprise that she had some pretty spooky childhood experiences

“When I was in middle school my mom and dad bought this really old house,” she remembers. There was always crazy stuff happening. But two events in particular still stand out to me. One was when I was home babysitting my siblings (who were playing upstairs). I was just finishing up the dishes when I heard a knock on the door behind me. I went to answer the door, but no one was there. But in the window, I saw my reflection and the reflection of a man standing behind me. When I turned around, no one was there.

“Another thing in this house was when me, my mom, and sister were all home together. Me and my mom were downstairs. All of a sudden my sister screamed from upstairs then came running down. She told us someone had turned off her bedroom light and touched her leg. At first my mom didn’t believe her, then all of a sudden we heard giggling from upstairs and footsteps running across the floor. Totally freaked me out.”

Her latest project is a follow up to her 2011 success “My Dad’s a paranormal Investigator: Seeking Shapeshifters.” This new book sees Ima travel to Ireland, a country close to Rebekah’s heart.

Says  Rebekah: “Ireland is beautiful. The countryside is amazing and the people I met were so nice. It’s almost like time stands still. Driving in the morning, seeing the fog roll over the hills, breathtaking.

“My Dad’s a Paranormal Investigator 2 takes place there because I’ve always loved the folklore and myths. And I could see Ima, my main character, kind of losing herself in the history and beauty of Ireland. Not to mention, she can get into some real shenanigans.”

There’s no doubt we’ll all be sharing those adventures at some future date, but for now, Rebekah L Purdy fans have a new  heroine in Maggie Winters, the narrator of the Fairy Godmother Files. Maggie’s adventures, both funny and scary, her friendships, romances and heartache are a page-turning read. Rebekah’s trademark blend of humour, drama and romance has never been better and the good news is, there’s not one but two follow-ups on their way.

“They get a little darker as we go, although there’s still a lot of humour planned, “says Rebekah. “I’m hoping in the next six to eight months to start working on the next one — as time permits. Or maybe even sooner, depending on how quick I can get the current book I’m working on written.”

The Fairy Godmother Files: Cinderella Complex is available now at Amazon; http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Fairy-Godmother-Files-ebook/dp/B007MOM5H8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332507766&sr=8-1

And here’s a little more about it…

Sixteen-year-old Maggie Winters can’t think of anything more exciting than junior year. There’s her first prom to look forward to, she can drive, and most important Connor Prince has finally noticed her. But unfortunately so has the school snob, Katrina Melville, who goes out of her way to make Maggie’s life a living hell. If that’s not enough, Maggie’s grandma has decided to retire, which doesn’t seem like such a big deal. That is until she finds out her grandma is a Fairy Godmother, and not just any Fairy Godmother. The Fairy Godmother, as in Cinderella, pumpkins, and mice. And she has informed Maggie that she’s next in line to become the new Fairy Godmother.

At first Maggie is excited, the whole getting wings, flying (or rather trying not to crash), and a wand that lets her grant wishes. It’s like being a superhero, without all the action, explosions, and spandex. Then she gets her first assignment, Katrina Melville, her nemesis. And if that doesn’t make her want to poof herself into oblivion, she finds out that part of Katrina’s happily-ever-after is Connor Prince. Life is so unfair. Even worse, she can’t tell her two best friends about any of it and they’re getting sick of her disappearing acts. Then there are the dangerous creatures, called Grimms who will stop at nothing to keep the happy endings from being fulfilled, even if it means destroying the Fairy Godmother responsible. With time running out, Maggie has to make this wish come true or it will ruin the fates of everyone involved, and open the world to darkness beyond imagination. Maggie will soon find out what it truly means to be a Fairy Godmother—and it isn’t all about princes, gowns, and wings, but something much more.

To celebrate the launch, Rebekah’s offering an ebook to one lucky commenter.  So drop me a line and you may be the one!

Lucky Seven Meme

Over the last couple of week I’ve been tagged by three people – Traci Kenworth,  Jennifer Fischetto and Vanessa Barger, so I thought it was about time I stopped fannying about and stepped up to the mark.

So, after a bit of  a false start earlier today, here are seven lines from the seventh line down on the 77th page of my wip.

 

Igor shifts in his seat. “A code?” He glances at me. I press my lips together, biting down on the compressed flesh. That’s not good news. A language can be translated. But a code must be cracked.

Father Conrad folds his arms. “Who are you? Really.”

I catch my breath. But Igor smiles. “What makes you think we are anything other than who we say we are?”

The old man fixes him with a steely glare.

 

I’m only just starting to make more writer friends outside my crit group, so apologies if you have already been tagged. In case you haven’t you have to:

1. Go to page 77 of your current MS/WIP
2. Go to line seven
3. Copy down the next seven lines, sentences, or paragraphs, and post them as they’re written.
4. Tag seven authors
5. Let them know

So the writers I’m tagging are:

Miranda Buchanan http://neverasthecrowflies.blogspot.co.uk/

Stephanie Sauvinet http://stephaniesauvinet.blogspot.co.uk/

Moira Keith http://Moirakeith.com

Traci Kenworth (because she has two wips lol): http://tracikenworth.wordpress.com/

Rebekah Purdy http://rebekahlpurdy.wordpress.com/

Kelbian Noel http://kelbian.com

Kit Forbes http://www.kitforbes.com/

Life in Ruins Part IV

Whereas last week’s village, Oradour-sur-Glane, was a stark reminder of the evil humankind is capable of in war, this one, Naours, shows us just how tenacious we can be when our world becomes a battleground.

Up to 2,000 people at a time found refuge in this underground complex while war ravaged the northern French countryside they lived in. It was used during dozens of conflicts over hundreds of years, from the Barbarian invasions of the Roman Empire in the third century right up until the French Revolution.

What’s left isn’t pretty. It’s grim and gritty and basic, exactly what you’d expect somewhere used as a place of safety in troubled times to look like.

The tunnels fell into disuse after the revolution until their rediscovery by a priest a century later. English troops used them during the First World War; during World War II, the Nazis used them as a munitions dump and Rommel’s staff headquarters.

Two kilometres of excavations on three levels contain 300 rooms, 28 galleries, 12 public rooms, a chapel, six chimneys, a jail and a law court.

Between five and eight people shared rooms, which were staggered on either side of passages to give some degree of privacy, which in these cramped and uncomfortable conditions, must have been essential.

Imagine the heat, the smell, the whispered conversations. The flow of human traffic through the chalky tunnels, animals tethered to the walls, possessions piled in corners.  Listless children playing in the shadows. Women crowded under the chimneys, cooking, knowing their smoke was routed up through a nearby miller’s cottage but worrying all the same their hiding place would be discovered.

In short, this must have been a very crowded and tense place to live. Yet at the same time, a very hopeful one, where that basic will to survive joined forces with human ingenuity, determination and endurance.

Like I said, not a pretty place.  But an evocative one. A fascinating one. And a powerful one.

Life in Ruins III

The ruined village of Oradour-sur-Glane is one of the most chilling places I’ve ever been.  Even on a warm summer afternoon, the knowledge of what happened here on a similar sunny day, June 10, 1944 brought a shiver to my skin and a sick twist to the pit of my stomach as I walked through its shattered streets.

It was a Saturday, just after lunch, when around 200 Nazi SS soldiers rolled into the sleepy village near Limoges in south west France. No-one knows exactly why;  it’s possible they confused it with somewhere with a similar name and links to the Resistance a few miles away.

They ordered every man, woman and child to the village green, claiming they wanted to check identity papers.

The men were separated from the women and children. They were taken in groups to barns and sheds like the one below, where they were first shot in the legs, then covered with fuel and set alight.

The women and children were marched to the church. The soldiers set off an incendiary device, locked them inside and machine gunned anyone who tried to escape through the windows.

Six hundred and forty two people, aged between one week and 90 years died: 190 men, 247 women, and 205 children. A handful survived to tell the world what they had seen.

The soldiers looted and burned the village that night. Its silent ruins now stand as a memorial for those who died here and a reminder of the horrors of war.  Burned out cars rust outside the shells of buildings.

Sewing machines, bicycles and other souvenirs of stolen lives lie amongst the rubble.

The buildings are marked with the names of the people who lived and worked in them; victims of a terrible atrocity that can never be forgotten.

Oradour-sur-Glane is worse than any imagined horror story. What happened here is real. To real people, with real lives, who lived and loved and laughed and had no idea when they woke up that morning they’d be dead by nightfall.

This martyred village is a place of remembrance and a reminder of the evil that human beings are capable of. I will never forget it.

Pictures copyright Penny Randall