Susan Royal stopped by the Dragon’s lair to talk about her book Not Long Ago.
When I began writing Not Long Ago, I pictured a young woman in her twenties hurrying down a busy city sidewalk. One her way past a coffee shop, she notices a handsome stranger through the window. Their eyes meet and what she sees leaves her reeling. Not only does she recognize him, she knows things about the man…but how? Who is he?
From there, the story could have gone anywhere. Turns out it did. The idea of time travel has always fascinated me. Imagine getting up close and personal with history. Experiencing what life is really like in another time. So my main characters, Erin and Griffin, meet and fall in love in a medieval world.
When my daughter finished reading Not Long Ago, she said something like “You can’t stop here. There’s more story to tell.” Until then I hadn’t really considered it. I was too busy getting my first novel written. But she was right. And that’s how From Now On came about.
Some of my favorite characters from the first book are back. Arvo: the tall gangly young man with a disreputable shock of red hair who becomes Erin’s good friend and confidant. Sir Edevane: Griffin’s fellow knight and friend. Kat: Griffin’s fiesty little sister.
If you love a time travel adventure with a twist (and a love story), please give Not Long Ago a read and I hope it won’t be long before you can continue with From Now On.
Born in west Texas and raised in south Texas, Susan makes her home in a 100-year-old farmhouse in a small east Texas town that comes complete with a female ghost who has been known to harmonize with her son when he plays guitar.
Susan is married, with three children and four grandchildren. Her family is rich with characters, both past and present. She spent her childhood listening to her grandmother’s stories of living on a farm in Oklahoma Territory with three sisters and three brothers and working as a telephone operator in the early 20th century. Her father shared stories of growing up in San Antonio in the depression, and through her mother’s eyes she experienced how it felt to be a teenager during WWII.
Her newest book, In My Own Shadow, is a Fantasy adventure/romance. Other published works are, Not Long Ago, a time travel adventure/romance. Both ebooks are available through MuseItUp/Amazon/B&N. Odin’s Spear, one of her short stories is featured in a Quests, Curses, and Vengeance anthology, Martinus Publishing. She has finished the sequel to Not Long Ago, because her daughter insists there is still more of Erin and Griffin’s story to tell, and she was right.
In My Own Shadow (fantasy, adventure, romance)
http://tinyurl.com/bqbxm41
Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/Wbg8Z-12ojY
Not Long Ago (time travel, adventure, romance)
http://tinyurl.com/85vgye3
Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/vOIQVdWUigU/
Both books available at MuseItUp, Amazon, B&N, Goodreads
http://susanroyal.moonfruit.com
http://susanaroyal.wordpress.com
I am a stranger in this world, even though I’ve traveled this way once before.
Fate and not design brought me the first time. It hurled me into this distant future, with no idea how or why, taking me from an existence dependent upon modern technology to a place where people fear such things and those who use it. While searching for my way home from this harsh and sometimes violent world, my admiration for its inhabitants who valued honor and duty above all else grew into admiration and respect. I found myself drawn to one man in particular who saved me more than once. Only I never expected to fall in love with him.
Torn between my feelings for him and a longing for home, I returned with only vague memories of my experience. My life went back to normal, but part of me sensed the loss of something more precious than what I’d regained. Until one day, I saw him again.
This time I’ve come by choice, and it is where I’m going to stay.
Fate willing.
* * * *
An intense flash of light blinded me and sent everything spinning out of control. Panic took my breath away until I felt Griffin’s touch. Like a puzzle ring, his fingers intertwined with mine and restored my sense of reason. My impression of moving at break-neck speed, confusion and dizziness had all happened before, and it would pass.
My feet touched ground, and my vision cleared. Above, the sun hung from a brilliant blue sky with such intensity it warmed the freshly plowed field beneath our feet. Not far away, a river made its way downstream. I placed a flattened hand in the middle of my chest as if to still my racing heart as the structure looming in the distance took on a familiar shape. We stood in a cornfield not far from a castle, the one haunting my dreams.
Griffin squeezed my hand and smiled. His eyes shone like quicksilver. “Welcome home, Erin.” My future seemed filled with nothing but unbridled happiness. If only the feeling could have lasted.
We followed the road leading to the grand stone castle on the horizon and passed through the gate into the courtyard and made our way to the stables. My cheap medieval-style costume, chosen to keep me from appearing too out of place when we arrived seemed to have done the trick.
All around us, everyone busied themselves with their everyday tasks. Sparks flew into the air as the blacksmith hammered out metal on his anvil. Local craftsmen worked in their shops with diligence, and knights and squires clashed swords at practice. Little or nothing had changed since my first visit. We skirted the crowd in order to make it to Griffin’s quarters, a small structure against the wall and on the other side of the stables, without attracting anyone’s attention.
“You cannot imagine the times I’ve dreamed of all this.” A breathless turn brought me full-circle in the middle of the room. “And now it’s actually happening.”
If pulsatile tinnitus is caused by erratic canadian sildenafil blood flow in the arteries, then applying slight pressure to the area of the upper neck or head on the problem side can help or reduce it. They provide highest level of medical and surgical care to cheapest online viagra their patients. Joaquim Radua; Odile A. van den Heuvel; Simon Surguladze; David Mataix-Cols.Meta-analytical Comparison of Voxel-Based Morphometry try my pharmacy store viagra sale Studies in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder vs Other Anxiety Disorders have diminished basal ganglia volume ( Joaquim 2010). 1/3/ to of adults develop OCD in childhood (POTS 2004).The majority of children do not get the correct diagnosis of treatment (POTS 2004). References are provided generic cialis levitra and are linked to Pubmed. Griffin pulled me close. “Aye, it is real, Erin, and neither one of us is dreaming.” Our hearts seemed to beat together in perfect harmony. Wrapped in the warmth of his arms, the fabric of his tunic rough against my cheek, I felt certain my decision to come back to this time had been the right one.
His breath as uneven as mine, Griffin lifted my chin until our eyes met and leaned close. The moment our lips touched, the latch rattled as it was lifted. The heavy, wooden door slammed back against the wall as someone burst into the room.
Sunlight poured in from behind the silhouette. A wiry, dark-haired man with a familiar face stepped forward. “Saints be praised, Sir Griffin. At long last ye have returned. I feared…” When the young man realized he’d interrupted our moment, his face flushed bright red and his gaze zigzagged from one of us to the other before dropping to the area around our feet as though wishing it would open up and swallow him. “My apologies. I did not mean…”
Griffin released me and pulled away. “Is there a problem, Iain?”
Ahhhh…hearing his name jogged my memory. He was a squire for one of the other knights.
The uncomfortable lad continued to study the floor. “Aye. In a manner of speaking.”
“Can ye not tell me in a straightforward manner and be done with it?” Griffin’s voice was edged with weariness and his shoulders sagged. “I have gone far too many days without sleep to be solving riddles.”
“Beg pardon.” Iain twisted his face into a grimace as though it pained him to say the words. “It is only when it comes to my lady, things are rarely so simple.”
“What has this to do with Lady Isobeil?”
“My lady has been in a terrible humor for more than a fortnight, and she grows more peevish by the day.” Iain shifted on his feet. “This morning she gave orders to make sure ye come to her chambers the minute ye set foot on castle grounds.”
“Those were her words?” Griffin’s tone was sharp.
“Aye. By mere chance I happened by the gate and overheard the porter telling one of the guards ye had arrived. So I made haste.” Judging by his breathlessness, he must have run all the way.
Griffin yawned. “I am bone tired, Iain. Can Lady Isobeil not wait until the morrow?”
Iain’s expression turned into one of alarm. “Surely ye jest. There is no telling what might happen if my lady thinks I’ve failed to follow her wishes. Of late, those who displease her have been known to disappear into thin air, never to be seen again.”
People feared Isobeil because of her strange ways, certain she practiced the dark arts, but I knew the truth. Like me, she was a stranger. She didn’t belong in this world, either.
Griffin’s jaw tightened. “Very well. Go to Lady Isobeil’s chambers and tell her I will report to her shortly.” A look of aversion on his face, Iain hesitated, and Griffin pushed him toward the door. “Go. Do as I say.”
As soon as Iain left, he gathered me in his arms again and held me close, but all the joy had gone out of our embrace. Nothing could dispel the icy chill gathering in the pit of my stomach, knowing Griffin would be facing Isobeil with the news he’d returned with me in tow.
“Do you have to go?”
“I am obliged to my lady. If not for her…”
I pressed my fingers against his mouth, certain of what he was about to say. If not for her, we’d never have found each other again. My stomach twisted at the thought.
“All the same, she can’t be trusted. Surely, you haven’t forgotten how she manipulated Lord John to get what she wanted.” Isobeil’s promise to bring back her husband’s dead son had driven the poor man to the edge of sanity and all because she wanted to secure her position at the castle. The woman had no compassion whatsoever. For anyone. The thought of Griffin having to deal her made my stomach fill with twisting knots of dread.
“Nor do I, but as Sir Maldwyn was often fond of saying, forewarned is forearmed.” My heart lurched at the mention of Griffin’s mentor and friend. Even though more than a year had passed since the man’s death, the loss was still evident in his eyes.
He brushed his lips against my cheek and whispered in my ear. “I shall return before ye have had time to miss me.”
Head and shoulders taller than most men in the courtyard, Griffin’s height made it easy for me to keep track of him as he strode toward the castle with determination. His dark, curly hair caught the late afternoon light, and gave me a warm feeling inside until thoughts of his impending confrontation with Isobeil overshadowed everything and left me sick with uncertainty.
A gentle spring breeze feathered against my skin and brought with it smells of moist earth and growing things. My eyes and nose stung from the wood smoke wafting through the air. Across the courtyard the blacksmith’s flames leapt high and turned his face scarlet. The aroma of something roasting wafted from the fireplace in the kitchen where Mawde Paisley likely directed the preparation of the evening meal. A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. What would the stern-faced cook have to say when she learned I had returned?
One of the other squires, a boy named Crispin, walked toward the paddock with two other boys. Tempted to call out, it occurred he probably wouldn’t recognize me. Like nearly everyone else at the castle, Crispin had only known me as Aaron, Sir Griffin’s squire. A lot of people were going to be surprised to find out I had only pretended to be a lad.
* * * *
The sun dipped low in the sky and the air turned cooler by the time Griffin returned from his meeting with Isobeil, carrying ale and something wrapped in a white linen napkin. The aroma of bread, fresh from the oven, assaulted my sense of smell and my stomach cramped with hunger pangs. I ignored it. At the present, there were more important things on my mind than eating. “Don’t keep me in suspense. How did it go?”
His mouth twisted up in a half smile. “She met me at the door with fire in her eyes.”
Thanks so much for having me back today, Chris.