#COOKING WITH CLORIS--AUTHOR TRACY COOPER-POSEY COOKS UP GUILT-FREE MUFFINS & CHOCOLATE GRAVY

Tracy Cooper-Posey makes a return visit today, this time to share a recipe. Tacy is an award-winning and bestselling author of more than 100 romantic suspense and historical, paranormal and science fiction romances in which random acts of crafting and cooking sometimes take place. She’s addicted to Irish Breakfast tea and chocolate, sometimes taken together. In her spare time she enjoys history, Sherlock Holmes, science fiction and ignoring her treadmill. An Australian Canadian, she lives in Edmonton, Canada with her husband, a former professional wrestler. Learn more about Tracy and her books at her website where you can find her free four book Starter Library.

Guilt Free Muffin & Chocolate Gravy

I’m thrilled to be back on Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers today to tell you about a simple recipe I use a lot.  Actually, it’s two recipes and both take under five minutes to prepare, from the moment you start retrieving ingredients to the first spoonful.

Keto Mug Bread

This is such a useful recipe! It takes one large coffee cup, a few staple ingredients and three minutes to make. It’s a “bread” that is gluten free, low-carb, and incredibly versatile.

In the past, I’ve left out the sugar substitute, and added a tablespoon of a sharp cheese (Parmesan works really well), to make a savory bread that is great for sopping up gravy, or as a substitute dinner roll. I’ve also used it as a fast solution for when I don’t have time to make proper low-carb burger buns. I’ve sliced this mug bread in half and put the burger on it – it’s a bit moist, but it works.

Unfortunately, the bread doesn’t toast all that well.  It’s a bit too eggy for that.  But slicing it and toasting it will warm it up so you can eat it hot. And the bread will store in the refrigerator for a few days (but you’ll eat it before then).

If you’re following a Ketogenic diet to lose weight, limit how often you make and eat the bread—it does have almond meal in it, which adds calories. However, it will not kick you out of ketosis, so when you really have to have a hit of something sweet, this version below, topped by whatever low-carb/no sugar sweetness appeals to you (fresh berries and whipped cream for example), is the perfect way to kill the cravings.

Ingredients:

2 T. almond flour

1 T. Swerve/Erythritol or other keto-friendly sugar substitute.

1 egg

1 T. good quality oil

1/2 tsp. baking powder*

*Make sure your baking powder is fresh and new.  Older baking powders lose their ability to raise ingredients and this recipe will flop without it.

In a large coffee cup, toss the almost flour, sugar and baking powder.

In a smaller cup, break the egg and add the oil.  If you want to add wet ingredients like vanilla, add them here. With a fork, beat the egg mixture until well blended.

Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients.  Mix with the fork until they’re just combined.

Cook on high in microwave for 30 seconds, then turn the cup. Cook for another 60 seconds.

Remove, turn the cup over a plate and tap the bottom.  The bread will plop onto the plate.

Chocolate Gravy

This recipe is also gluten free, low-carb and very keto friendly.  Unlike the mug bread, you could indulge in this every day without guilt, for it contains high quality fats and other goodies. If you eat sugar regularly, you will find this chocolate gravy not nearly as sweet as you are used to. For keto and low-carbers, though, the sweetness is perfect.  It will stop your chocolate cravings in their tracks, guaranteed.

This recipe makes a lot of gravy  (well over a cupful).  Eaten on its own, the quantity is fine. As a muffin topping, it will cover at least two muffins.

You can also cut down on the coconut milk to make the gravy into a stiff smoothie.  Or add extra milk to make a thinner consistency for a glaze, or beverage. I’ve also substituted the coconut milk for canned coconut milk (the stuff that comes with the solidified cream at the top), and that makes a thick, almost cake-like chocolate that you could almost use as frosting on a cake.  (It’s also damn good to eat straight out of the blender cup.)

This is a simple recipe that can be tweaked in dozens of ways, limited only by your imagination.  For example:  Add a few drops of peppermint or spearment essence for a chocolate mint version. 

Ingredients:

1/2 - 3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk*

1 heaping T. sugar-free cocoa powder

1 heaping T. keto-friendly sugar substitute (Swerve or other)

1 T. Collagen powder (optional – but a great side benefit, health-wise)

1/2 tsp. vanilla essence

Pinch of sea salt or pink Himalayan salt**

Whole avocado, peeled and pitted.

* See notes about coconut milk, above.  I use the prepared milk found in the milk fridge at the supermarket, not the tins of coconut milk.  It keeps the cost down.

** The pinch of salt makes a huge difference. Try this for yourself. Make a batch of gravy without the salt, then make a batch with the salt.  You’ll be astonished at how it brings out the flavor.

Pour the coconut milk into a blender or bullet mixer cup. Add the avocado meat to the cup. Dump the rest of the ingredients to the cup. Blend.

Degree of Solitude

A Scandalous Scions Romance, Book 9

The man she once loved is now a monster she doesn’t know.

Catrin and Daniel love each other, but Daniel refused to further their relationship for fear of curtailing Catrin’s intellectual and personal freedom, and dooming her to a life of domestic servitude as his wife.  Yet their lives remain entangled.

When Daniel is shot in the face during a family rescue in Algeria, he brutally severs the ties between them and removes himself to a remote village in Pembrokeshire, Wales.

Catrin travels to Wales in a last bid to resolve their differences, but the terrifying man she finds there is not the Daniel she once knew…

This book is the ninth book in the Scandalous Scions series, bringing together the members of three great families, to love and play under the gaze of the Victorian era’s moralistic, straight-laced society.

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--INTERVIEW WITH HISTORICAL FICTION AUTHOR GINA DANNA

Today we sit down with author Gina Danna who writes historical fiction and historical romance set in Ancient Rome, Regency England, Victorian England, and the American Civil War. Learn more about Gina and her books at her website. 

When did you realize you wanted to write novels?

Probably in my twenties when I read a ton of Regencies and other historicals and realized I knew the plot in the first few pages. I thought, wow, I could do this! Mulled with the idea for years. Took my son going to college to actually start.

How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?

Three years after starting to write.

Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?

I am a hybrid author.

Where do you write?

Just about anywhere. Get the most done at home, of course, but I take my laptop to work to write on my breaks or on a plane when I’m traveling.

Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?

At home and anywhere else, I’d prefer silence but work is crazy so there, I’ll put on a soundtrack to listen to, like the recent one I’ve been going to is Ken Burns American Civil War (that PBS series).

How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?

Well, this last series is on the Civil War, so from real life (Grant, Lee, Rosecrans, etc). And there are a few from my real life, who shall remain nameless. J

Describe your process for naming your character?

Always a hard one! In this series I’ve been writing, mostly from my family, since my mother’s family has been here since like the 1700s. I always get the Hero/Heroine kinda told to me by them and then the rest? Always difficult!

Real settings or fictional towns?

For most – real; for Regency – made up

Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours?

In my personal life? My choices in men and in college degrees. Love history! But wow, hard to market outside museums (and I did have a wonderful career in museums – educator/curator; but when there’s a financial cut, they’re hit hard). And men? Well…

You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves? A ton of books, great wine and a dog. J

What was the worst job you’ve ever held?

Branch Office Admin at Edward Jones – hated it from day 1! But needed a job. BORING plus, I failed accounting in college (I’m a mathematician – accounting makes no sense to me)

What’s the best book you’ve ever read?

Hard to decide. Woodiwiss/Heath/Bob Mayer (his Civil War book, which he’s now cut into 3 books)/wow..so many more

Ocean or mountains?

Ocean!!!!! (I’m in landlocked Dallas now – I’ve lived near water all my life up to 3 years ago; so weird!)

City girl/guy or country girl/guy?

City girl here

What’s on the horizon for you?

More writing. Working on a Christmas novella (which is a challenge – I’ve never had a short book) and researching for book 4 of the Civil War series.

Rags and Hope

Hearts Touched by Fire series, Book 3

Thanks to his father’s political machinations, grieving widower Colonel Pierce Duval only wants to leave his family home in New York and return to his Union command in Tennessee. A chance and harrowing encounter with a true-blue Southern belle stirs emotions he thought long buried. When her safety is at stake, how can he not help her? 

Cerisa Fontaine ran away from her wealthy Louisiana home to build a new life away from her family’s awful secret. But her controversial marriage and southern drawl make her a pariah in New York. Her situation becomes downright perilous when her husband is killed in battle. Alone and penniless, Cerisa is forced to seek employment at the only establishment that will accept her: a brothel.

Each for self-serving reasons, Pierce and Cerisa embark on a journey to Tennessee posing as a married couple. But as secrets stand between them, passion wages its war within them. All too soon, they must make a life altering choice: remain loyal to their cause, or give in to their heart’s desire.

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#BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--OOPS! HEROINE ACCIDENTALLY ELOPES WITH WRONG MAN!

Today we sit down with Katherine, niece of Earl Quamby, from author Beverley Oakley’s The Accidental Elopement.

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?

Believe me, I had my life all mapped out. The pinnacle of my ambition was to make the most illustrious marriage possible during my London season. I was beautiful, from a well-connected family (if you disregard my mother’s pre-marriage scandals) and I had three suitors. Then my author threw me together with my childhood friend, Jack – a boy from the foundling home – and we fell madly in love.

I was furious that she should do that to me – for about five seconds – because truly, I was prepared to cross shark-infested waters to be with Jack. In fact, I nearly did (well, not shark-infested but raging seas). Unfortunately, I got into the wrong carriage. The one that wasn’t taking me to those raging seas I was prepared to cross. And that’s when my life took a very dark turn.

Excuse me if I don’t go into the details right now. The trauma is still quite fresh in my mind.

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?

I shouldn’t need to tell you that a well brought-up young lady doesn’t advertise her good qualities which should be evident to all her eligible suitors. However, if there’s one thing I secretly like about myself, it’s my love of adventure. I was so lucky to have been able to climb trees with Jack and join him on adventures when we were seven. This was when Jack would be brought over from the foundling home to be a playmate for my cousin, George. But it was Jack and I who found some mischief to get into – and Jack always defended me and took the blame – even if it was my fault. Sorry…I didn’t mean to get tearful but I do miss Jack. Or rather, the fact that he is lost to me and…the fact we’re doomed to be apart.

What do you like least about yourself?

My impulsiveness. Oh, yes, definitely that! If I hadn’t been so foolish and impulsive, I never would have made the biggest, most terrible mistake of my life. I never would have…I’m so embarrassed to admit it because who would do such a thing? Who would accidentally elope with the wrong person?

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?

Strangest? Or do you mean most terrible? Because, there’s no getting around the fact that my author utterly ruined my life! That carriage I got into? How was I supposed to know it had been sent by someone other than whom I assumed had sent it?

But I can’t blame anyone other than myself. All this happened seven years ago and I’m not the feather-brained, impulsive debutante I was then. I’m older and wiser – lonelier, too, though I deserve it. But I have a beautiful seven-year-old daughter and she’s my treasure.

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?

I argued about the fact that I thought it wasn’t that Jack and I couldn’t be together again after we’d been apart for seven years. After all, I was widowed and Jack was not yet married. But my author said honour had to prevail. She said it was one thing that I’d only just been widowed but quite another that Jack was honour-bound to marry the daughter of his dying mentor whom he’d promised, in the West Indies, he would protect. He’d just brought Odette back from across the seas so how could I expect he’d leave her to marry me? Even though I knew Jack loved me?

I suppose I can’t blame him. I was the impulsive one. I brought all my troubles upon myself. It’s hardly any wonder Jack thought I had forsaken him.

But I did ask my author if I couldn’t just tell him everything about what had happened and how I felt about him. She said I could but only if I wanted to put him in the impossible position of choosing between his heart and his honourable soul. I’m still trying to find a way to get around that one.

What is your greatest fear?

That Jack will never know how much I love him. And that he will never learn my secret. I want him to know it – yet I know it would destroy him.

What makes you happy?

Being with my child makes me happy. I lead a quiet life after my late husband ruined my reputation and gambled away our worldly goods so I take pleasure in simple things.

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?

I would rewrite the end because I think Jack deserves to be happy but I think I do, too. And we can only be happy together. But Jack is about to marry and then he will be lost to me forever.

My author found me in tears this morning. She told me my story isn’t finished yet but I don’t believe her. Jack is marrying so soon. It’s set in stone. His bride-to-be is sweet and worthy and her father is dying. My aunt thinks she has a plan to make her fall in love with someone else, but it won’t work.

I must accept that Jack and I are doomed to be forever apart.

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

My cousin George, for sure! He was spoiled and whiney when we were children and he hadn’t changed much when we were eighteen which is when he suddenly decided he wanted to marry me – even though he knew Jack and I were soul mates.

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?

Odette, Jack’s betrothed. Because she is the one who will have Jack for the rest of her dying days. But she won’t have his heart. I thought I would take comfort from that but I can’t. I don’t want her to suffer as much as I have for the truth is that she’s a good person. Better woman than I am. It’s just that Jack loves me. And I love him.

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?

Beverley Oakley is an Australian author who grew up in the African mountain kingdom of Lesotho, married a Norwegian bush pilot she met in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, and started writing historical romances to amuse herself in the 12 countries she’s lived as a ‘trailing spouse’. She writes historical romances laced with scandal and intrigue and Africa-set romantic suspense as Beverley Eikli. You can read more at www.beverleyoakley.com.

What's next for you, the author?

She’ll be writing book three in her Fair Cyprians of London series. Each story features a courtesan at Madame Chambon’s elite Soho establishment. Keeping Faith, like the other stories in the series, is based on fictionalized versions of the interviews of the ‘fallen women’ nineteenth century journalist Henry Mayhew included in his study of Victorian vice, London’s Underworld. Sacrificing Charity is about a courtesan who’s been groomed by her protector to be her ‘beautiful weapon’. It highlights hypocrisy and has at its heart a revenge and redemption theme.

The Accidental Elopement

Today we sit down with Katherine, niece of Earl Quamby, from author Beverley Oakley’s The Accidental Elopement.

What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?

Believe me, I had my life all mapped out. The pinnacle of my ambition was to make the most illustrious marriage possible during my London season. I was beautiful, from a well-connected family (if you disregard my mother’s pre-marriage scandals) and I had three suitors. Then my author threw me together with my childhood friend, Jack – a boy from the foundling home – and we fell madly in love.

I was furious that she should do that to me – for about five seconds – because truly, I was prepared to cross shark-infested waters to be with Jack. In fact, I nearly did (well, not shark-infested but raging seas). Unfortunately, I got into the wrong carriage. The one that wasn’t taking me to those raging seas I was prepared to cross. And that’s when my life took a very dark turn.

Excuse me if I don’t go into the details right now. The trauma is still quite fresh in my mind.

What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?

I shouldn’t need to tell you that a well brought-up young lady doesn’t advertise her good qualities which should be evident to all her eligible suitors. However, if there’s one thing I secretly like about myself, it’s my love of adventure. I was so lucky to have been able to climb trees with Jack and join him on adventures when we were seven. This was when Jack would be brought over from the foundling home to be a playmate for my cousin, George. But it was Jack and I who found some mischief to get into – and Jack always defended me and took the blame – even if it was my fault. Sorry…I didn’t mean to get tearful but I do miss Jack. Or rather, the fact that he is lost to me and…the fact we’re doomed to be apart.

What do you like least about yourself?

My impulsiveness. Oh, yes, definitely that! If I hadn’t been so foolish and impulsive, I never would have made the biggest, most terrible mistake of my life. I never would have…I’m so embarrassed to admit it because who would do such a thing? Who would accidentally elope with the wrong person?

What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?

Strangest? Or do you mean most terrible? Because, there’s no getting around the fact that my author utterly ruined my life! That carriage I got into? How was I supposed to know it had been sent by someone other than whom I assumed had sent it?

But I can’t blame anyone other than myself. All this happened seven years ago and I’m not the feather-brained, impulsive debutante I was then. I’m older and wiser – lonelier, too, though I deserve it. But I have a beautiful seven-year-old daughter and she’s my treasure.

Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?

I argued about the fact that I thought it wasn’t that Jack and I couldn’t be together again after we’d been apart for seven years. After all, I was widowed and Jack was not yet married. But my author said honour had to prevail. She said it was one thing that I’d only just been widowed but quite another that Jack was honour-bound to marry the daughter of his dying mentor whom he’d promised, in the West Indies, he would protect. He’d just brought Odette back from across the seas so how could I expect he’d leave her to marry me? Even though I knew Jack loved me?

I suppose I can’t blame him. I was the impulsive one. I brought all my troubles upon myself. It’s hardly any wonder Jack thought I had forsaken him.

But I did ask my author if I couldn’t just tell him everything about what had happened and how I felt about him. She said I could but only if I wanted to put him in the impossible position of choosing between his heart and his honourable soul. I’m still trying to find a way to get around that one.

What is your greatest fear?

That Jack will never know how much I love him. And that he will never learn my secret. I want him to know it – yet I know it would destroy him.

What makes you happy?

Being with my child makes me happy. I lead a quiet life after my late husband ruined my reputation and gambled away our worldly goods so I take pleasure in simple things.

If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?

I would rewrite the end because I think Jack deserves to be happy but I think I do, too. And we can only be happy together. But Jack is about to marry and then he will be lost to me forever.

My author found me in tears this morning. She told me my story isn’t finished yet but I don’t believe her. Jack is marrying so soon. It’s set in stone. His bride-to-be is sweet and worthy and her father is dying. My aunt thinks she has a plan to make her fall in love with someone else, but it won’t work.

I must accept that Jack and I are doomed to be forever apart.

Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?

My cousin George, for sure! He was spoiled and whiney when we were children and he hadn’t changed much when we were eighteen which is when he suddenly decided he wanted to marry me – even though he knew Jack and I were soul mates.

Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?

Odette, Jack’s betrothed. Because she is the one who will have Jack for the rest of her dying days. But she won’t have his heart. I thought I would take comfort from that but I can’t. I don’t want her to suffer as much as I have for the truth is that she’s a good person. Better woman than I am. It’s just that Jack loves me. And I love him.

Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?

Beverley Oakley is an Australian author who grew up in the African mountain kingdom of Lesotho, married a Norwegian bush pilot she met in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, and started writing historical romances to amuse herself in the 12 countries she’s lived as a ‘trailing spouse’. She writes historical romances laced with scandal and intrigue and Africa-set romantic suspense as Beverley Eikli. You can read more at her website.

What's next for you, the author?

She’ll be writing book three in her Fair Cyprians of London series. Each story features a courtesan at Madame Chambon’s elite Soho establishment. Keeping Faith, like the other stories in the series, is based on fictionalized versions of the interviews of the ‘fallen women’ nineteenth century journalist Henry Mayhew included in his study of Victorian vice, London’s Underworld. Sacrificing Charity is about a courtesan who’s been groomed by her protector to be her ‘beautiful weapon’. It highlights hypocrisy and has at its heart a revenge and redemption theme.

The Accidental Elopement

Book 4 in the Scandalous Miss Brightwell series

A seven-year secret. A tragic misunderstanding. Can love outwit fate in this tale of misadventure and thwarted dreams?

Earl Quamby’s niece, Katherine, and Jack, a foundling home lad adopted by a local family, have been loyal friends for as long as they can remember. 

As Jack is about to leave England to make his fortune and Katherine is being courted by two eligible suitors, they unexpectedly realise their friendship has blossomed into passionate love. A love, they are warned, that has no future.

Despite a brave attempt to defy the forces keeping them apart, tragedy results and the pair is separated.

When chance throws them together seven years later, Katherine, newly widowed, is being pressured into a marriage not of her choosing to avoid scandal and Jack feels he must honour his pledge to the worthy Odette whom he met in India and whose father is dying.

Katherine knows that revealing a long-held secret may win Jack to her but she also knows conflicting obligations from past and present may tear him apart.

Can master matchmakers, Fanny, Antoinette and Bertram Brightwell, outwit fate in its latest attempt to keep these star-crossed lovers apart and deliver them the happiness they deserve?

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--FAIR-ISLE KNITTING WITH GUEST AUTHOR BEVERLEY OAKLEY

The author wearing one of her Fair-Isle sweaters in Greenland

In 2009, Beverley Oakley published her first novel after marrying the handsome Norwegian bush pilot she met in Botswana. Since then she's written more than thirteen sizzling historical romances, mostly set in England during the Georgian, Regency and Victoria eras and more psychological historicals with less sizzle as Beverley Eikli. Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

Knitting up a Plot

There’s something mesmerizing and cathartic about the click of the needles and a strand of yarn running rhythmically over my left forefinger while I watch television or read a book.

I never took to the traditional English style of knitting when I learned it at school in Australia, but after my Norwegian mother-in-law taught me Continental knitting during the year I spent living with my in-laws, I was hooked.

My husband and I had met when I was running a safari lodge in Botswana’s Okavango Delt and he was a bush pilot, flying in the tourists and supplies. After a whirlwind courtship, he took me to live in Norway with his family while we waited to begin an airborne geophysical survey contract in Namibia.

The job was continually delayed but for the next ten months, instead of twiddling my thumbs, I put them to good use, learning to knit the country’s seemingly complicated traditional Norwegian Fair-Isle sweaters under the expert guidance of my mother-in-law Elsa, my many sisters-in-law, and even my teenage nieces. Get-togethers in Norway, I discovered, were always done over coffee and with the mandatory piece of knitting in one’s lap.

Norwegian Fair-Isle sweaters look complicated to make, yet they’re not. There are never more than two colours in a row and the right, patterned side is always facing you, as the sweater is knitted on the round and then cut up to then sew in the arms, which are also knitted on the round. If it’s a cardigan, it’ll be cut down the middle with the bands knitted on afterwards.  

At the end of more than ten months in Norway, my husband started his one-year survey flying contract in Namibia, and I joined him, operating the computer equipment in the back of the aircraft. As I was often the only woman on crew during this and subsequent three-month contracts in Greenland, Namibia, and Sweden, I found a great friend in my knitting.

Flying at 250 feet above ground on survey lines that crisscrossed the terrain at regular intervals of 50 feet gave me a wonderful bird’s eye view. I was thrilled by rare sights, like a trio of bat-eared foxes crowding onto the top of an anthill to check us out, or small village children scurrying from their thatched huts to do the same. Meanwhile I’d be monitoring the flight data, and all the while I’d have a growing sweater on my lap. I was known by my fellow crewmembers as the ‘knitting operator’.

Weaving yarn and weaving stories go hand in hand and in those days, before my first novel was published, I would construct elaborate plots in the aircraft, which, if working on a contract when my husband was flying in a different country, I’d write up when I got back to my accommodation.

They were fun days, seeing new countries, partying in nightclubs on the Arctic Circle, cracking my head on the roof struts in heavy turbulence over Greenland’s ice cap or getting locked up in French Guiana and having to spend the night, alone, guarded by a 6’4” French Guianese soldier brandishing an AK-47. That was a scary experience and worth a story on its own.

However I was fortunate to have my knitting with me. If you’ve got a ball of wool, a pair of knitting needles and a good plot brewing, you’ll never be lonely.

The Mysterious Governess, Daughters of Sin, Book 3

Two beautiful sisters – one illegitimate, the other nobly born – compete for love amidst the scandal and intrigue of a Regency London Season.

Lissa Hazlett lives life in the shadows. The beautiful, illegitimate daughter of Viscount Partington earns her living as an overworked governess while her vain and spoiled half sister Araminta enjoys London’s social whirl as its most feted debutante.

When Lissa’s rare talent as a portraitist brings her unexpectedly into the bosom of society—and into the midst of a scandal involving Araminta and suspected English traitor Lord Debenham—she finds an unlikely ally: charming and besotted Ralph tunley, Lord Debenham’s underpaid, enterprising secretary. Ralph can’t afford to leave the employ of the villainous viscount much less keep a wife but he can help Lissa cleverly navigate a perilous web of lies that will ensure everyone gets what they deserve.

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR SIBELLE STONE

Sibelle Stone is the pseudonym for award-winning romance author Deborah Schneider. As Deborah she writes Western and Americana romance novels. As Sibelle Stone she writes historical romance with paranormal elements, (things like magic, witches and evil Druids) and Steampunk with incredible machines. It’s the same person, but with two different sides.Deborah is employed by one of the busiest libraries in the country in a job that involves arranging programs with authors, storytellers, musicians, dancers and jugglers. Sibelle is independently wealthy and therefore doesn’t have a day job. She enjoys reading books, but likes writing them even more. She prefers wearing costumes that include amazing hats. Learn more about Sibelle at her website. 

Thank you to Anastasia for inviting me to be a guest on her blog. I love books, crafts and writing, so it’s a great place to visit.

My first full length Steampunk romance, Prudence and the Professor, has been published. I’ve been working on this book for several years, as I took breaks to write and publish other stories. But, Prudence and Gerritt (the Professor ) kept pulling me back to their story. I simply couldn’t shut their voices in my head up.

I need to confess a secret. I love Steampunk. I haven’t discarded my intense attraction to writing Western romance, but Prudence and the Professor morphed into a strange combination of Victorian age, alternate history with fantasy elements set in the Civil War era of the American West.

What’s Steampunk? It’s a sub-genre of fantasy and speculative fiction, sometimes also called science fiction. It is set in a world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century.

Often, when I’ve heard people search for a quick shorthand for defining the genre, they say, “Wild, Wild West” is Steampunk. Both the movie and the television series clearly illustrate the elements found in a Steampunk. And both are set in the American West.

When I first discovered Steampunk, I was attracted to the reference to the Victorian era. Most of the books I’ve written have a setting between 1848 and 1888. I love the clothing, lifestyle and proper rules and etiquette of that age. When I’ve set my books, although they are in Montana, they are also clearly in the mid-19^th century. So when I heard about a sub-genre of literature and an artistic movement that included fashion, music, and other elements that focused on the era, I was fascinated.

So how do Westerns fit into this technological age of steam? Easily, I think. Consider that the Victorian era coincided with the exploration and settlement of the West. There are so many possibilities for creating stories that are set in the wild, unexplored wilderness beyond the Mississippi. With Steampunk, a writer has the freedom to rewrite history, to include magic, technology and a fantastical world all in the same work. The possibilities are endless, and they excite me.

I chose a mining town in Montana Territory in 1863 because the Civil War actually opened up opportunities for invention. The Industrial Revolution was already taking place in the United States, and the war meant more inventors applying for patents.

Of course, I take my story beyond the typical inventions of the time to include Mechos, arc guns and cannons and even a sky ship. After all, what’s the fun of writing a Steampunk book if you can’t play with all the fun elements?

Prudence and the Professor

In this rollicking steampunk romance from an award-winning author, a Civil War widow travels to Montana territory in search of adventure and independence. She takes a position as a personal secretary to an eccentric inventor. The handsome professor is not what she expected, and while he’s drawn to the raven haired beauty he must develop his newest invention to meet a critical deadline that could change the course of the War-Between-the-States.

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