Calen Author Blog Post by Rie McGaha and Contest!

Reading Can Take You Everywhere 

by Rie McGaha 

Since I was a kid I have been fascinated with time travel and how cool it would be to be able to have a time machine just like H.G. Wells described in his book. Then I saw a movie in the early 80's called Timerider: The Adventures of Lyle Swann. This movie is about a dirt bike racer who accidentally rides through a time warp and winds up in the old West, although he doesn't realize it until he rides into an old western town and scares the crap out of everyone with his bike and red leathers. They all think he's the devil. Then he meets a woman, falls in love, and in the end winds up being his own great grandfather.

That movie stuck with me over the years. The whole predestination paradox brings up a whole slew of questions. What if you went back in time and were killed, would your future self also die? What if you killed one of your ancestors, would the entire future line cease to exist? The possibilities are nearly endless and for a writer it is fodder for plot lines.

I have always felt as if I was born in the wrong time, and have always been drawn to the mid-1800's. The Civil War era has always fascinated me and I can get lost in the research when writing, or not writing and just want to read. I also love ancient Scotland, which had nothing to do with H.G. Wells and more to do with authors like Nora Roberts, who was born in Scotland and in her early career wrote several books about the MacGregor

family. I think I still have several of the paperbacks with worn covers because I read and reread them so many times. Who wouldn't love a hot and sexy braw Highlander hunk?

Since then there has been a plethora of Highlander books published by various authors and I think I own every one of them. And then came author Karen Marie Moning who combined my two loves – time travel and Highlander hunks. I greedily read every book over and over as I waited impatiently for the next installment to come out.

One night I began to think about time travel, Highland hunks and how to write my own book that would combine the two. I didn't want to sound like I was copying or using anyone else's ideas of course and then it struck me. What if the time travel went the other way? What if my Highland hunks found a way to come forward in time to the modern world? How would an ancient Highlander react if he suddenly found himself looking at a modern city, say San Francisco 2011? The possibilities are endless, although the problem was how to get someone from 1600 Scotland to 2011 America. The result of that thought became My Soul To Keep.

The story begins with brother Calen & Caleb MacLeod finding an orphaned three-year-old boy, Arion, with his murdered parents. From there the story nearly wrote itself and although my first idea was I was writing Calen's story but then it morphed into Caleb's story, and as Caleb's story unfolded, Arion grew up and had his own story. What I created was a wonderful intricately woven story of love, war, fantasy, romance, suspense and adventure. I had written the perfect bedtime story for big girls. Although the book is being released from Silver Publishing, it has been broken into three parts, one for each of the brothers, and published individually for the e-books, but will be published as a whole when it goes to print. Creating the perfect fantasy is a lot of fun but seeing it come to life in the hands of readers is the perfect ending for me.

Rie McGaha, GA Hauser, and Stormy Glenn have teamed up for Blog Blast 2011. They are giving away prizes that include e-books, autographed print books, t-shirts, book markers, just to mention a few, plus one lucky person will win a purse filled with products from Avon. Don't miss out on the fun. Go to http://blogblast2011.blogspot.com/ for all the details.

Rie McGaha http://www.riemcgaha.com
Stormy Glenn http://stormyglenn.com/
GA Hauser http://authorgahauser.com/

Blurb:

When Calen MacLeod begins having dreams of an ethereal beauty who beckons to him, he passes it off as just having an itch he hasn't scratched in a long time. But when he leaves on a journey to find her, following the directions she's given him in his dreams, he begins to doubt his sanity. And when he finds himself high in the Mackinaw Mountains in a secret fortress with unicorns and a pink and white castle, surrounded by women, each one more beautiful than the next, it's a fantasy no man would want to wake up from. But Arianna is the only woman for Calen. 

The women of the Fortress have lived in peace, hidden away from the humans who tried to annihilate them all. But now a 500-year-old demon is out to destroy the women's matriarch, Ariella, and he'll stop at nothing to complete his mission. When Calen MacLeod shows up, he throws a wrench into Damon's plans. Never let it be said Damon isn't ready for anything, but when he kidnaps Arianna and takes her to modern day San Francisco, is he ready to meet Calen, who will stop at nothing to save his ladylove?

Excerpt:

"Take Thomas home and bury him," Calen said in a dangerously calm voice. "Tell Da I'll be home when I can. Don't let anyone leave the castle for any reason until I get back. And no matter what, unless I can tell you the password, do not, and I mean it, Caleb, do not open the gates!" He began walking again.

"What did you see, Calen?"

Calen fingered the stone hanging from his neck and remembered Arianna's words. Damon could make himself invisible, and only Calen could see him. "Damon. He was here. You didn't see him?"

Caleb shook his head. "None of us saw anything. We only heard you yell his name and take off."

"I saw him mount his horse and ride off into the forest. He's going to try to get into the Fortress, and I'm going to stop him. I'm going to kill him. There's no way of knowing if he has any other abilities—there may be more even Ariella doesn't know about—and I'm not taking any chances." Calen mounted his horse.

"Now take Thomas home and I mean it, Caleb, no one is to leave the castle until I return. And no matter what I say, if I don't know the password, don't open the gate. Kill me. Caleb, you have to kill me if I don't know the password, understand?"

Caleb shook his head. "No, I don't understand at all. I can't kill you, Calen, no matter what!"

"Caleb, if I don't know the password, then it isn't me and you have to kill me." Calen stuck his hand out, and Caleb took it. "Promise?"

Caleb squeezed his brother's hand and nodded. "I promise."

Calen spurred his horse and took off at a dead run.

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About the Author 

Rie McGaha was born and raised in northern California along the shores of Humboldt County where her grandmother often took her to dig for clams and watch the whales migrate. Being raised with the mountains on one side and the ocean on the other, gave Rie a deep love for nature. She has resided in the Kiamichi Mountains of SE Oklahoma where she rescues animals. She is the mother of 12 and Nana of 33 (and counting).
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Contest:

We both have a chance to win our choice of a book from Rie McGaha's backlist. She will give it to one randomly drawn commenter and a tour host (that be me!) with the most comments (so get to typing!). The more you comment, the better the chance you have to win. The others on the tour can be found here. Contest ends May 16.