BRAIDED DIMENSIONS
by Marie Judson
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GENRE: Fantasy
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BLURB:
Celtic mythology, medieval history, and modern-day mystery blend in this story where past and present collide.
Kay, a professor of ancient languages, finds herself drawn into a hidden realm of magic and danger. Transported to a medieval world on Halloween night, she meets Baird, an enchanging stranger who claims to know her spirit, and Duff, a burly silversmith who welcomes her as Kyna, long-lost kin. Kay joins them in a festive celebration where she discovers she can understand their arcane tongue, as ghostly figures haunt the night.
When dawn comes, she is in her own time, still holding a silver pendant that connects her to Baird and his world. She struggles to return to that time even as Baird is endeavoring to find her and unravel the secret of their connection. Follow Kay and Baird on their journey across dimensions in this novel of intrigue, adventure, and magic.
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EXCERPT:
Franklin Street Cafรฉ had a lively crowd bathed in the lurid orange glow of gauze-covered lights. A projector flashed images of old Celtic stones onto the wall. A fabric forest hung across the entrance to the next room, the air permeated by yeasty aromas of pizza crust and ale. Shouts of conversations battled to be heard over haunting music and the clatter of dishes.
Where were the nyads and faeries? In place of the figures of enchantment in the email invitation, Kay saw a faux belly dancer who never should have revealed her midriff, and men dressed in bathrobes and tennis shoes attempting, she supposed, to convey Druidic high priests. With absurd disappointment at seeing no apparent magic, she thought she wouldn’t stay long. Then her attention was drawn by a hand-printed sign offering homemade organic mead, and pressed through to the bar. A young waitress, her peachy complexion disturbingly pierced with lead posts, asked for her order.
“Could I taste the Moonlight Mead?” she requested.
“Certainly.” The young woman behind the bar handed over a sample.
Pushing aside glued-on mustache hairs, Kay sipped the tasty brew, then ordered a twelve-ounce, and again surveyed the crowd. She considered making the glass of mead a solo act when she noticed a birdlike creature, tall and hunched like a heron, tattered feathers splaying from head and neck. It stalked, with wild-bird grace, across the projection of ancient stones, through the cloth trees, into the next room. Kay’s drink arrived, and she followed the strange apparition.
A Word With the Author
1.Did you always want to be an author?
You’d think with my love of books from an early age, I might have pictured myself writing my own, early on. Except for flashes of daydreams as a child where I imagined myself sitting behind a large polished-wood desk feeling important, I don’t recall any specific career desire until high school when I fell in love with French. The only aim I crafted from that passion was envisioning myself a sort of 007 or other spy traveling the world, knowing every language and everything about everything. When my kids were little, I made an attempt at writing fantasy fiction and formed the idea of Elf Stone of the Neyna but it wasn’t until I’d spent seven years writing a dissertation that fiction started to flow from me. The muscles were now there. After years of dry writing in a PhD program, I could tap into a wellspring of creativity and emotion for fiction writing, it seemed, with relative ease.
2.Tell us about the publication of your first book.
When I left the Ph.D. program without defending, I moved to the setting of Braided Dimensions—the Northern California coast I called Pomo Bluffs which is actually Ft. Bragg. There I took a data entry job, just as Kay does in the novel. The story began as a short story that won a Halloween contest for a Danish Druid newsletter. I picked up the thread and as I began expanding it into a novel, I put myself into Kay’s life and myself into hers. Walking around town, I imagined stepping through a portal into medieval time. Walking on the beach most evenings at sunset, I let myself sink into the story and continue from the last scene. I formed writing groups which honed my craft and gave me direct access to readers every week. I worked on Books 1 and 2 (Book 2 is relaunching on April 10th) for ten years, from 2008 to first publishing in 2018.
3.Besides yourself, who is your favorite author in the genre you write in?
Some current fantasy writers I enjoy are Eren Morgenstern (Night Circus), Laini Taylor (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Strange the Dreamer), Neil Gaiman, Phillip Pullman, Julie Czerneda (Web Shifters series). I write about authors of the past in my blog. As a young adolescent I spent two summers reading Lord of the Rings which has had a profound influence on my life. Another summer I read all of Frank Baum’s Oz books. Through my teens, I read Heinlein and Bradbury as well as Dickens and other classics. I had a kind of awakening when women proliferated (MZB, Jo Clayton, Anne McCaffrey) and I could imagine myself as the heroine in the stories. It’s still relatively rare that a fantasy author meets all my criteria, with quality writing, intriguing plots, good healing mind powers. I recently stumbled on The Keeper Origins, by JA Andrews, an indie writer, and am waiting for the third book. I’d love to discover more indie writers like that!
4.What's the best part of being an author? The worst?
There are many great aspects of writing. I don’t even know yet all the ways I can love writing because I keep learning more every year. Maybe the best part is belonging to writing groups. I love the camaraderie and sharing, and best of all, getting reader feedback directly, the same week I write a section. In the past couple of years, I’ve had the experience of recording my own first novel for public radio. It’s online in the archives at KNYO. I had a blast collaborating on adding sound effects and picking songs to play before and after on a story hour just for me. Now I’ve worked with three different narrators recording three books. It’s a fantastic way to comb through a novel and improve it. I’m also anticipating a couple of author interviews coming up, have done book readings. The collaborations just keep increasing. I do sometimes wonder briefly why I put so much work into writing. It sure isn’t making me rich! But it’s not really a question I can ask. I’m compelled. I guess the worst part is worrying about publishing mistakes.
5.What are you working on now?
Currently I’m writing a fantasy sci fi series called Lost Xentu. I’m on the third book, Missing Moon. The first two, Elf Stone of the Neynaand A Far Cry are available as audio books on Audible. Elf Stone of the Neyna was recently selected by Indie Library Project so it should be available as eBook and audio book from your local online library. If not, ask for it! The fun thing about writing the third book in a series is you’ve already built the world(s) and developed characters. They have a history, so ideas flow, scaffolded onto what’s gone before. The reader has already become curious about those plot elements and how they’ll unfold, so there’s juice, there’s fire behind a mere word or object. I love that. In this book, Yanda is searching for her daughter, out in the universe. She has an intrepid group of allies who have powers, as does she. We experience a planet with a bird-like human world and many others.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Marie Judson is a schoolteacher on the wild coast of Northern California. Language and the mind are her passions. An ardent fantasy reader since childhood, she also loves singing, dream work, and crashing waves. Follow her blog at https://mariejudson.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marie.judson.writer
Website: https://mariejudson.com/
Book Video: https://youtu.be/50AdR_Ib4KQ?si=QQHZCHobmTm-okML
https://www.amazon.com/Braided-Dimensions-Book-Marie-Judson/dp/1726614913
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION
Marie Judson will award an epub copy of one of her books to a randomly drawn winner.
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