Thanks ever so much to Sharon Booth of The Moongazing Hare blog for asking me to do this blog tour.  You can read Sharon’s brilliant blog here.  This is the first time I’ve done one of these blog tours so I hope I’ve done it right.  If not then please let me know…

1. What is the name of your character? Is s/he fictional or historical?

She’s called Zoe Rose.  She’s the heroine of Beltane, my first novel and is fictional.

2. When and where is the story set?

The story is set in the present day in Glastonbury.  Anyone who’s been to Glastonbury (the town, not the festival) will know that it’s more than a little alternative.  There are shops on the High Street selling everything you need to be a successful witch, Goddess workshops are regularly held in the town and people openly practice Paganism.  It was therefore wasn’t much of a leap to think that if supernatural things were going to happen anywhere then they’d happen in Glastonbury.  Another day I’m going to blog about meeting a druid for a cuppa as that really was an education!

 

3. What should we know about her?

Zoe is a struggling artist in her late twenties. She comes to Glastonbury to work on the illustrations for a children’s book about King Arthur.  This is a really important commission for Zoe and she’s been struggling to produce any decent work at home in London. Her best friend suggests she stays at Anam Cara Healing Retreat which is owned by the healer, Maeve.  However, Maeve is not all she seems…

4. What is the main conflict? What messes up her life?

Zoe has strange dreams that she’s had all her life and she’s learnt that if she draws these dreams they don’t bother her anymore.  While she’s in Glastonbury she has a number of dreams of the same man.  And then she meets him.

Initially Zoe doesn’t recognise Finn McCloud as the man from her dream but she’s instantly drawn to him.  When Finn finds out where Zoe is staying he warns her not to trust Maeve.  Zoe’s already worried about the pretty odd things that are going on at Anam Cara and Finn’s words make her ask even more questions.  But Maeve’s one determined lady and she’ll stop at nothing to make sure Zoe doesn’t find out her secrets.

5. What is the personal goal of the character?

At the beginning of the book, Zoe simply wants to complete the illustrations for the King Arthur book and hopes that will lead to more work as an artist.  Then her dreams become increasingly important as she realizes that they reveal the future.  But there’s a lot of other things going on in Glastonbury and without realizing Zoe’s ended up right in the middle of it and, in the end, her only goal is survival.

6. Is there a working title for this novel and can we read more about it?

The title is Beltane and at the moment the only place you can read more about it is here. Hopefully one day that will change.

7. When can we expect the book to be published?

I’m afraid I can’t answer that one at the moment.  Submissions are out.  When there’s any good news you’ll be the first to know.

And the tour carries on. I couldn’t find anyone to hand the baton on to (all my writing friends seem to have already been on this particular tour, got the t-shirt and come home with a few dodgy souvenirs) but my good friend and contemporary women’s fiction writer, Julie Heslington, is also doing this blog tour this week and you can read her blog here.

Thanks for reading about Zoe and Beltane.  Have a lovely day xx