A Three-Dog Night and More

 

Rascal likes to snuggle by my pillow. Not only does it keep me warm, I get dog kisses periodically until she falls asleep.

 

 

With frigid temperatures falling all over the country, the south no exception, and my little spot in Decatur, with the wind chill, in the single digits. According to the weather channel, we are facing forty hours of below freezing (OMG)temperatures. Yikes!

 

I jokingly posted on Facebook yesterday evening that it was a six-dog night at my house, thinking of the phrase, a three-d0g night. Then I began to wonder, just where did that phrase come from? We all say it and know it means how many dogs to ward off the chill.

 

I did a bit of research.

 

The geographic source of the phrase has been debated many times. Is it the Australian outback or the northern reaches of North America with the Eskimos. The meaning is clear, no matter the location. The phrase is a rudimentary nightly temperature gauge. Dogs huddled with humans at night for their warmth. On really cold nights, three dogs were brought to bed to keep the owner from freezing to death.

 

In American Literature:

 

 

 

Available on Amazon

 

Whatever its origins it does turn up in American literature, and most of those included a definition as well as the phrase. A passage from a juvenile novel, Courage at Indian Deep by Jane Resh Thomas, provides a good example. Jane Resh Thomas is the author of more than a dozen fiction and non-fiction books for young readers. This book was published in 1990.

 

A ship sinks during an autumn blizzard on Lake Superior, and Cass and his dog are the only ones who can help the survivors.

 

     “Here, Tongue.” Cass dried the dog and coaxed him under the open sleeping bag. “This is a three-dog night, for sure, but one dog will have to do.”  

     Answering the puzzled look on Torberg’s face, Cass said, “I read that frontiersmen slept with dog because their body temperature is higher than a human’s. A three-dog night was a night so cold it took three dogs to keep a man warm.” 

     “Tongue’s a living electric blanket,” said Torberg smiling.


Another children's book:

 

From Amazon

 

Another children's book piles on more dogs for warmth. The Five-Dog Night, written and illustrated by Eileen Christelow. When Old Betty tries to advise Ezra on how to survive the cold winter nights, Ezra rebuffs her concerns because he has his own private source of warmth. Published in 1993.

 

 

You might say I am living the dream. Covered in dogs. At my house we have a six-dog night most every night!

 

 

Bertha Barth, Miss April in Paris, Bray-boy, Annabelle, Rascal,

and Chloe in her pink sweater.

 

 

 

Author R. Leonia Shea, Legendary Magic, and The Dog Days Of Writing

It was a subtle transition.  At first, I dismissed it for a variety of reasons:  it's too hot, the ground is too damp, the humidity is too high.  I never thought it was just old age or the cataracts that clouded her big, brown eyes.  Instead of wanting to spend the days in the garden with her furry hip pressed against mine and her black nose twitching excitedly, she napped in her bed, sleeping contentedly while I read a book.  Every once in a while, she'd chase dream-rabbits with her small paws twitching, her ears pricked forward, and a doggy grin of joy flashing across her white muzzle. 

After a few weeks, I felt the need to do something and tried to coax her back outside.  She wasn't interested, so I had to find another way to amuse myself.  Soon, we replaced the chattering squirrels in the trees with air conditioned comfort and the clicking of computer keys.  I began writing to keep my dog company.    Between chapters, I would reach over and rub her belly while I thought up plot twists.  She would regard me with an interested expression, and I'd read snippets of my stories to her.  Listening to the words in my own voice gave me a sense of the cadence of my writing. 

My dog was the one who listened to my first manuscript.  She watched as I stared into space trying to come up with the next line, ever my patient companion.  As she grew older, we spent more days writing (okay, I wrote and she slept) and when we went out for walks she was my excuse to get some distance from a scene which just wasn't working.  When we returned home, I was refreshed and able to concentrate again.  She was ready for another nap. 

It is because of my dog that I finished several outlines and developed a few stories that I have since published.  The garden we once tended together has long since filled in with weeds, but I have found a new fertile ground to cultivate - my imagination. 

When the inevitable happened, my manuscripts went untouched for months.  Writing had become something that we did together and I found my grief paralyzing.  What had been routine became impossible, but eventually the impossible became therapeutic.  Writing soothed my lonely hands and I published the novel I had written on the living room floor years earlier.  It became Elementary Magic.

Naturally, there is a dog in that story.  The mythical trickster spirit Coyote is my tribute to my writing partner because she was indeed, my partner in everything.  She inspired me to be a better person than I ever thought possible, taught me compassion, patience, and fortitude.  She planted the garden in my imagination.

Although she was blind (almost overnight, as sometimes happens to diabetic dogs) she seemed unaffected by her condition.  In fact, she would sit in front of the window as if she were looking out it, and I would open the door so she could look outside on sunny days and feel the warmth of the sun on her fur.  She taught me just because you can't see something, doesn't mean it isn't there.  I made concessions to her blindness, her medical conditions, and her needs.  She made me a better person and a writer.

Many years have passed since then, and I have a new writing companion now.  She loves spending the day stretched out on the couch listening to clacking of the keys on my keyboard.  She rises before dawn with me and takes up her post on the couch in my office while I work.  She has taught me to approach everything as an adventure, to slow down and take the time to chase the moths that flutter around the patio lights, to explore the overgrown garden, and to take breaks to throw a ball or a stuffed toy instead of getting frustrated when a scene simply won't come together.   She is also the inspiration for the character of Coyote because to her, everything is fun and needs to be done immediately. 

The speed and cadence of my writing has changed as a result of the switch in writing companions.  My new co-author has a short attention span and a persistent nature, so I must get my thoughts down quickly because I never know when she'll present me with a toy and an invitation to play.   We have formed a partnership of our very own, one different from that of my first co-author, but one which reflects our relationship and our personalities. 

She listens when I read things aloud.  Paws at me when I've become too absorbed or when I seem frustrated.  She distracts me or lets me work for long stretches of time, and she is always there to lend a supportive ear.  She also keeps the area beneath my desk free from random goldfish crackers and pretzels.

I always write with a dog around.  They keep me centered, provide me with just enough distraction, and give me a non-judgmental ear.  They also keep me from becoming too serious.  Writing should be fun, and there should always be short breaks to rub bellies, throw balls, or just plan the next plot twist.  It's a garden of a different sort, and I have a partner to help me tend it. 

About the author:

R. Leonia Shea

 

R. Leonia Shea is a writer with the heart of an artist - or maybe it's the other way around. Either way, she can usually be found at her computer or in her studio creating something while worrying that there's something else she should be doing.

Come to think of it, she's one of those people who seems to always be torn between two things like art and writing or the mountains and the sea. Maybe she simply believes you can do it all - as long as you have supportive people around you.

Her latest release is Legendary Magic: Relic Hunter Book 3

 

The Books:

Find all R. Leonia Shea's books on Amazon.

 Published October 2014

Buy On Amazon

Dr. Arienne Cerasola might have a suspicious mind, but that doesn’t mean something nasty isn’t being planned by two of her former acquaintances. They have banded together on an archaeological expedition in the United Kingdom, and that could spell trouble for the magical community. The magical apocalypse kind of trouble.

As a witch and disgraced archaeologist, Arienne shouldn’t be surprised when Kingston Pon asks her help to find a lost relic. After all, Kingston is one of the senior members of the United Coven and Alliance and Arienne is one of the few people who knows about his secret resistance activities with the Crux Crucio Orbis. When she learns her own Grandfather is involved in the C.C.O., Arienne’s more than a little angry that her family has been keeping secrets. Secrets about their involvement in the magical world. Secrets about Arienne’s legacy. Keeping secrets means creating lies and Arienne is determined to unravel the deception even if it means collapsing the foundation of her new life.

Caught between the clandestine world of the C.C.O., the dangers of the Alliance, and the treachery of a new magical organization Arienne must trace the grain of truth in the legends passed down from the ancient Celts, through the Roman Empire, and right into King Arthur’s court. Legends that were created to protect the truth and keep the relic from passing into the wrong hands.

The confines of loyalty and duty make it an even more complicated quest. She might be the only one who can balance the power without collapsing the foundations that hold magic in check but to accomplish that, she’ll have to face the truth about herself, her family, and her place a world she was never really part of.

Links:  Amazon   Amazon Author Page   Author Web   FaceBook

 

              Twitter  @RLeonia1    Smashwords     Goodreads

Martha Conway, Author of Thieving Forest, and Her Dog Nico

 

Nico, Martha's golden doodle
 

Meet author Martha Conway and Nico today on Writer With Dogs. This post is part of the author's book blog tour for Thieving Forest with WOW! Women On Writing. Link back to Martha's original interview on The Muffin and follow the tour, dates and stops listed below.

 

Nico and Mini Me

I still have dreams about Willie, my childhood dog, who went with me to deliver papers on my paper route and often got tips (usually bones) from my customers at Christmastime when I did.

Willie was a mutt; my current wonderful dog is a golden doodle named Nico, whom I think of as a mutt, too. Sometimes she looks more like a teddy bear with her overgrown curly fur (technically hair, I guess), which nearly covers her eyes. As a city dog, Nico isn’t allowed to run down the sidewalks without a leash, which is fine because I don’t deliver papers anymore. But like Willie, Nico is as kind and loyal a dog as you could want.

About three years ago when I broke my leg skiing, I had to lie on a couch for two full months, and then for two months after that I still used crutches and couldn’t drive. I was basically housebound for four months. Having Nico lying on the carpet next to my couch every day for sure saved my sanity. I rigged up my laptop and bought a lot of music and worked non-stop on my novel, feeling a little like Margaret Mitchell when she wrote Gone with the Wind. (Apparently she grew up with a collie dog named “Colonel” after Teddy Roosevelt.) 

There’s no better way to write lots of pages than to be forced to stay sitting for hours on end. However, during that time I couldn’t get up and do research, like go for walks in the swamps and woods of northern California (my novel takes place mostly in the wilderness). But in a way Nico was my research. My novel has lots of animals in it —wild animals, for the most part, and very unlike my lovably cowardly dog— but animals that I needed to think about and describe. I spent a lot of time watching Nico: how her nose quivered when she was trying to work something out by smell (her first line of questioning); how her ears lay back when she was looking at a bird out the window; the way her muzzle dripped after drinking water.

 

I think I may have even added a few more animals to my narrative because of her!

 

Both Nico and I were overjoyed when I was able to take her out for walks again. Nowadays she will wait pointedly at the front door if I let too much time go by before I take her on her morning walk.

 
However, broken leg or no, during the day Nico is still my “mostly companion,” as Eloise at the Plaza Hotel said of her nanny. I truly feel that my dogs, both Willie and Nico, have always taken care of me. Nico barks too much and she jumps up on people coming into the house, but I can live with that. She knows when to lie by my side and give me that needed sense of companionship, and she wags her tail whenever I enter the room, even if her back is to the door.

 

I wish I could do that.


About The Book:

FIVE SISTERS. FOUR ARE KIDNAPPED. ONE GOES AFTER THEM. ALL THEIR LIVES ARE CHANGED FOREVER.

 

 

 

Buy On Amazon and Kindle

 

On a humid day in June 1806, on the edge of Ohio's Great Black Swamp, seventeen-year-old Susanna Quiner watches from behind a maple tree as a band of Potawatomi Indians kidnaps her four older sisters from their cabin. With both her parents dead from Swamp Fever and all the other settlers out in their fields, Susanna makes the rash decision to pursue them herself. What follows is a young woman's quest to find her sisters, and the parallel story of her sisters' new lives.

The frontier wilderness that Susanna must cross in order to find her sisters is filled with dangers, but Susanna, armed with superstition and belief in her own good luck, sets out with a naive optimism. Over the next five months, she tans hides in a Moravian missionary village; escapes down a river with a young native girl; discovers an eccentric white woman raising chickens in the middle of the Great Black Swamp; suffers from snakebite and near starvation; steals elk meat from wolves; and becomes a servant in a Native American village. The vast Great Black Swamp near Toledo, Ohio, which was once nearly the size of Connecticut, proves a formidable enemy. But help comes from unlikely characters, both Native American and white.

Thieving Forest explores the transformation of all five sisters as they contend with starvation, slavery, betrayal, and love. Fast-paced, richly detailed, with a panoramic view of cultures and people, this is a story of a bygone place sure to enthrall and delight. 

 

 

Meet The Author:

 

 

 

Martha Conway has taught fiction at UC Berkeley Extension and at Stanford University’s Online Writer’s Studio. She tweets ten-minute prompts and exercises every day on twitter (#10minprompt, #WritingExercise) via @marthamconway.

Martha’s first novel 12 Bliss Street was nominated for an Edgar Award, and her short fiction has appeared in The Iowa Review, The Mississippi Review, The Quarterly, Folio, Puerto del Sol, Carolina Quarterly, and other publications.

She graduated from Vassar College and received her master’s degree in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. She has reviewed fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle, The San Francisco Review of Books, and The Iowa Review, and is a recipient of a California Arts Council fellowship in Creative Writing. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, she now lives with her family in San Francisco.

See Martha's Blog Tour schedule below and links to her website, Amazon site, and social media.

Martha Conway Blog Tour Schedule (as of 9/4)

October 13 at The Muffin  http://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com/  interview and giveaway

Oct. 14 at Writer with Dogs http://writerwithdogs.blogspot.com/ guest post

Oct. 15 at All Things Audry http://allthingsaudry.blogspot.com guest post

Oct. 16 at Book Talk www.barbarabarthbookblog.blogspot.com/ author showcase

Oct. 17 at Deal Sharing Aunt http://dealsharingaunt.blogspot.com/ guest post and giveaway

Oct. 19 at Writer Unboxed www.writerunboxed.com guest post

Oct. 21 at Katherine Hajer http://www.katherine-hajer.com/ guest post

Oct. 22 at Caroline Clemmons http://carolineclemmons.blogspot.com guest post

Oct. 23 at Renee’s Pages www.reneespages.blogspot.com guest post

Oct. 24 at A Writer’s Devotion http://www.awritersdevotion.blogspot.com/ interview

Oct. 27 at Katherine Hajer http://www.katherine-hajer.com/ review

Oct. 29 at Words by Webb http://jodiwebb.com interview and review

Nov. 3 at Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews http://lisahaseltonsreviewsandinterviews.blogspot.com interview

Nov. 6 at Escaping Reality Within Pages http://escapingrealitywithinpages.blogspot.com/ guest post, review and giveaway

Nov. 11 at The Lit Ladies http://www.thelitladies.com/ interview

Nov. 12 at Kathleen Pooler http://krpooler.com/blog guest post, review and giveaway

 

 

 

 

Links:  Amazon     Amazon Author Page   Author's Web

 Twitter  @marthamconway      Pinterest      Facebook

 

Solitary Schmolitary by Kimberly Brock, Georgia Author of the Year 2013, with Fergus and Reba B

 

              Fergus and Reba B, otherwise known as the current Chief Starers at Me

  

Writing is supposed to be solitary. That’s what everybody keeps saying but I am here to tell you that solitary doesn’t do it for me. And I have a theory that all writers secretly share this same fear of solitude. That’s why we write when we’re alone, so we won’t notice we’re alone and nobody else will notice we’re alone in all our aloneness. Oh, the humanity.  

Years ago, when I started on this writing journey, I worked alone. On a big clunky computer with a beret and a candy cigarette, the way you do. I don’t think I’d ever even seen a laptop at that point. I sat in a very uncomfortable chair (where did that chair come from?) at a desk in the corner of my master bedroom. The babies would nap and in the two or three hour blocks of absolute silence, entirely alone with my thoughts and a Diet Coke, I would accomplish…nothing.

I mean it. I can’t write in an optimum environment. No way. But I tried, Lord, I gave it my best shot for about two years. Until one day I decided if I was ever going to really get rolling and crank out a bestseller and put a pool in my back yard (did not happen), I needed to get down to the nitty gritty of my writerly needs. I made a list. Probably it was for groceries, but it’s been a long time now and I like to think it was me, being productive, trying to be scientific about reaching my potential. Or something.

Here’s how The List of Making Kim Write looks in my made-up memory.

1)      Turn on a fan.

(I figured I slept better with a fan, so maybe I would write better, too. No dice. I slept. Drooled.)

2)      Turn on the T.V. for white noise.

(Ya’ll. You know I watched Guiding Light. I did not write.)

3)      Nurse the baby.

(This was not actually on the list, but I did actually do it. I also wrote one-handed and published my first short story, so there was maybe something to that. However, I refuse to nurse a fourteen-year-old and so this was not sustainable.)

4)      Get a laptop so you can stand in the kitchen.

(This sounds ridiculous but I DO think better and more actual thoughts while standing in the kitchen. I also eat. Or clean. I notice everything is just filthy beyond belief and that I would fail health inspector tests and then, no writing happens. I end up cleaning the disposal, which is not really all that inspiring.)

But the move to the laptop and the first floor were truly the plot points that led to a real turning point in this fabulous, transformative, transcending writer’s journey. Why? Because, a dog.

5)      Write with A DOG.

Here’s what happened. We had a cairn terrier that had been with us since our first year of marriage and he was an old man in a dog suit. He was quiet. He was dependable. He had a routine. And his best dog trick was the ability to be PRESENT. He was always there. He was with us. Near us. Existing as a part of our household in a way that felt like he was an extension of our very selves. And the minute I sat down on the sofa with my laptop and outline and intentions to create, he curled up on the other end.

And stared at me. For the duration.

We did not converse, the dog and I. There was no exchange of anything but air going on in that living room. I didn’t even scratch his ears. I just went to work. Two years later I had bigger kids, a blown-out spring on my end of the sofa, and a completed manuscript. I learned the Ancient Chinese Secret of writing success.

Write with a dog.

When you write with a dog, your stories will flow unceasing. Your best ideas will be genius, your prose lyrical and your humor dry and fine. You will swat away writer’s block as easily as a housefly. Your work will be a resplendent example of craft with solid arcs and plots, compelling themes, fully realized characters and original voice. You’ll be content with your pace. You’ll take risks and break rules and then clean up after yourself with brilliance. And when you strike the final punctuation, you won’t even hesitate before you scroll on over to the next page to whip up your acknowledgments. And here is what you’ll say.

“For the dog who reminded me. I’m not alone.”


About Kimberly Brock:

Kimberly Brock

Kimberly Brock was named Georgia Author of the Year 2013 for her debut novel, Kindle bestseller, The River Witch (Bell Bridge Books/April 2012). A southern mystical tale set against the backdrop of the Appalachian foothills and the Georgia Sea Islands, The River Witch has been chosen by national and international book clubs.

Founder of Tinderbox Writer’s Workshop, Kimberly speaks on creative writing, the power of story to create community, and her favorite topic – getting past fear to live from our Creative Core. Kimberly also consults and speaks on Social Media Strategies for Writers.

A former actor and educator, Kimberly Brock's work has appeared in
magazines and anthologies. Contributor to Northside Woman Magazine. She serves as Blog Network Coordinator for national online book club, She Reads, and works as a certified Pilates instructor. Kimberly spends her non-writing time enjoying her husband and three children, north of Atlanta where she makes her home.

Kimberly's next workshop is this Saturday, September 13, at KSU, Kennesaw, Georgia. Link here for workshop information or call the Georgia Writers Association at 770-420-4736. Space is still available.


 

 

About The River Witch:

 

Available on Amazon or wherever books are sold.

 

 

Broken in body and spirit, she secludes herself in the mystical wilderness of a Georgia island. Can she find herself in the sweetness of old songs, old ways, and the gentle magic of the river people?

"Kimberly Brock has an amazing voice and a huge heart; The River Witch welcomes the reader to a haunted landscape, authentically Southern, where the tragedies of the past and the most fragile, gorgeous kind of love-soaked hope are equally alive. This is one debut that you absolutely should not miss."-Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times Bestselling Author of Gods in Alabama

"Kimberly Brock's The River Witch achieves what splendid writing ought to achieve-story and character that linger in the reader's consciousness. Such is the power of Roslyn Byrne, who retreats to Manny's Island, Georgia, in search of herself, only to discover her great need of others. Tender and intriguing, often dazzling in its prose, this is a mature work of fiction worthy of the celebration of praise."-Terry Kay, internationally known author of the classic novel, To Dance With The White Dog
"There is magic and wonder in The River Witch, but the real enchantment here is the strength of the characters Roslyn and Damascus. Their voices are the current that carries the reader along in this compelling tale of healing and discovery."- Sharyn McCrumb, New York Times Bestselling Author, The Ballad of Tom Dooley
"With lyrical prose, Kimberly Brock explores the hidden places of the heart. The River Witch is a magical and bewitching story that, like a river, winds its way through the soul. In the voices of her wounded characters, Brock takes us through both the breaking and the healing of a life." -Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Perfect Love Song

 

Links:

 

Author Web     Facebook    Pinterest    Twitter @kimberlydbrock

 

Kimberly Brock Pilates    Contact Kimberly    Author Amazon Page

 

Tinderbox Writers Workshop

 

Author Bethany Masone Harar and Her Wonder Dogs

 

Boomer

 

 

Annie
 

Today's post is part of Bethany Masone Harar's WOW! Women On Writing blog tour for her young adult novel Voices of the Sea. Her tour started on July 28 and runs until August 21. Bethany will be making stops on some wonderful blog sites - so get on board and follow her tour. Interviews, book excerpts, give-a-ways, and of course, her wonderful dog story below. Link to The Muffin (WOW's blog) and meet Bethany and see her tour schedule. Then be sure to scroll down and read more about Voices of the Sea.

 

My Wonder-Dogs

I’m very excited to write about the dogs in my life today!

To start, my sister had horrible allergies to dogs, so I wasn’t able to have them until I moved out and got married. 

Since then, I’ve had two important dogs in my life. 

The first, Boomer, was a beagle/basset hound mutt my husband and I rescued in Richmond, VA.  My husband and I showed up at his foster home to see him one day, and they suggested we take him home for a “test drive”. 

That test drive lasted ten years. 

Boomer was lazy and slow.  He grunted like a pig, snored worse than my husband, and enjoyed having his ears scratched.  He begged with huge, puppy-dog eyes I couldn’t resist, and dragged his paws when he walked.  Boomer hated water, but once plowed through four feet of snow to find a grassy patch to pee on.  He was my first doggy baby and I cried buckets when he died of heart failure.

The second dog in my life is Annie, an apricot miniature poodle.  We originally adopted her and her sister, who were the only two left in the litter, but soon realized (after I had a breakdown and cried on the floor) that two puppies was too much.  My friend took in her sister, and we kept Annie.

Annie is a poodle princess, who is spunky, sassy and quirky.  Her hobbies include playing fetch, chewing my underwear, sleeping on the top of the couch, hiding under the dining room table after stealing forbidden items, and enjoying belly rubs. 

Annie is a lover.  She sleeps on our bed, of course, but prefers to slumber by our feet, saving the mornings for our “special” time,  when she lays on my pillow and can sit on my face to lick my cheek.  She doles out kisses liberally and is a glutton for a good human/dog scratching session. 

Like her former older brother, she prefers to be inside on rainy days, and would rather risk a scolding than relieve herself in the snow.  She loves everyone, except dogs who dare to tread on her front lawn, and has been known to openly and wantonly accept affection from complete strangers.

She is my  baby girl, and I cannot imagine life without her.  When I write on the couch, she cuddles up against me, often draping herself on my laptop to re-direct my attention.  I can’t blame her.  She is used to being loved and spoiled, like a good poodle princess should.

She joined me just now, licking my face and woofing in anger when I asked her to wait.  A bone on the carpet will bear the brunt of her frustration.  In a little while, I’ll go upstairs to bed, and she will follow, leaving my husband behind.  She’ll curl up in my crotch.  There is no better place for a poodle.

About Bethany:

Bethany Masone Harar graduated with a Bachelor's degree in English from James Madison University and a Masters in Secondary English Education from Virginia Commonwealth University. She has enjoyed teaching high school English ever since. As a teacher, Bethany is able to connect with the very audience for whom she writes, and this connection gives her insight into their interests. As a writer, she wants to make her readers gasp out loud, sigh with longing and identify with her characters.

 

Bethany also enjoys posting on her blog, bethsbemusings.blogspot.com, is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and is an avid follower of literary-driven social media.

 

She resides in Northern Virginia with her husband, two beautiful children, and her miniature poodle, Annie.

 

 

Voices of the Sea:

 

Available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and independent book stores.

 

 

The Sirens of Pacific Grove, California are being exterminated, and seventeen-year-old Loralei Reines is their next target. Lora may look like a normal teenager, but her voice has the power to enchant and hypnotize men. Like the other Sirens in her clan, however, she keeps her true identity a secret to protect their species.

 

Lora's birthright as the next clan leader seems far off, until the Sons of Orpheus, a vicious cult determined to kill all Sirens on Earth, begin exterminating her people. When an unexpected tragedy occurs, Lora must take her place as Guardian of the Clan. 

 

Lora is determined to gain control of her skills to help her clan, but they are developing too slowly, until she meets Ryan, a human boy. When Ryan is near, Lora's abilities strengthen. She knows she shouldn't be with a human. Yet, she can't resist her attraction to him, or the surge in power she feels whenever they're together. 

And the Sirens are running out of time. If Lora can't unlock the secret to defeat the Sons of Orpheus, she, along with everyone she loves, will be annihilated.

Voices of the Sea includes a rich history of Sirens. Mythology and modern life come together in this beautifully written book that draws the reader in from the first chapter.

 

Links:   Author's Web      Author's Blog      Facebook    Amazon

 

Twitter @bethhararwrites        The Muffin Interview and tour dates