Blast from the Past: BLINDSIGHT ( AKA The Never-ending Story ) by Sarah Raplee

{This Blast from the Past was first published in 2017.}

Hi, I’m Sarah Raplee and I’m a closet perfectionist.

That’s the main reason it took me seven years to finish my first book. I am a slow writer. And things like births, deaths, illnesses, surgeries, business slowdowns—the stuff of lives being lived—played a part. As did co-managing this blog, and writing half-a dozen short stories, three of which have been included in anthologies.

The publication of BLINDSIGHT, my debut paranormal romantic suspense novel, is a testament to stubborn perseverance, faith and the kindness (and patience) of my family and my “tribe” of fellow writers.

Sometimes I felt like this book would never end. I wrote. I re-wrote. I edited. I ‘fixed’ things. I delved deeper into characters and theme. I paid an editor to find more things for me to improve upon. Her advice was sound and made the book stronger (and taught me a lot). Then…I polished. And polished. And, as my husband likes to point out, I changed happy to glad and back again many, many times.

My husband also told me it was time to “shoot the engineer and build the device,” which translates into “shoot the writer and publish the book.” But something held me back. After much prayer and meditation and consultation with friends, I finally internalized the truth that no book is perfect—and that’s okay. It was the part about it being okay that I hadn’t really taken to heart.

No book is perfect because no writer is perfect, and that’s also okay. As poet Joyce Kilmer so eloquently put it, “Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree.”

SARAH RAPLEE

After this epiphany, I finished the book. BLINDSIGHT is not perfect, but my Beta readers loved it. And that is more than enough to make me happy.

BLINDSIGHT, Book 1 in the FBI Psychic Agents Series, will be published by Windtree Press and available at all major E-Bookstores on Valentine’s Day.

BLINDSIGHT BLURB:

A tenacious FBI Psychic Agent who can find anything…
A lonely blind woman with a dangerous kiss…
A brutal psychic criminal obsessed with killing one and controlling the other…

FBI Level-10 Dowser Hector Guerrero, undercover at a drug lord’s remote wilderness wedding, learns the man that murdered his family plans to kidnap the psychically Talented blind wedding singer. Unable to allow the Cartel to enslave another victim, he tries to protect her and ends up in a torture chamber.

Luckily, Melisenda Smith is as resourceful as she is beautiful—and she needs Hector’s help to escape with her elderly guide dog. Fighting a perilous attraction, Meli and Hector must rely on one another to survive a relentless wilderness pursuit. When they stumble onto the Cartel’s hidden prison camp Hector’s been seeking, will ghosts from his past destroy their chance for a future together?

EXCERPT:

Melisenda set her drink down and tipped her head to one side as if she could see straight through him from behind her dark lenses. “Are you a friend of the bride or the groom?”

Hector blinked. “Uh, I’m here for the groom. I’m one of his bodyguards, currently off-duty.”

He scanned the room for Killingsworth and spotted him moving toward the bar. Biding his time. Sweat beaded his upper lip. How long before Killingsworth ran out of patience?

“So you’re here out of loyalty, Hector?”

The question caught him off guard. A bitter laugh escaped him. “I’m here because I want to keep my job.” He shifted in his chair, angling his body toward her. “What about you?”

Color blossomed in her cheeks. She picked up her champagne and held the fluted glass between them. “I need to keep food on the table.”

He narrowed his eyes. Her body language told him there was more to it, but he didn’t want to spook her. He changed the subject to a humorous description of a mismatched couple dancing.

When the lively music ended, the trumpet player teased the first liquid notes of the old Beatles’ ballad, Yesterday, from his instrument. The rest of the musicians joined in the second refrain. More richly-dressed couples rose from their tables and headed for the dance floor.

Melisenda’s smile turned wistful. Was her resolve wavering? “I bet you dance like you sing—beautifully,” he said.

She moistened her lower lip with the tip of her tongue. “Dancing’s against the rules.”

He leaned closer and lowered his voice. “Whose rules?”

She tucked a stray curl behind her ear. The rhinestones rimming her glasses flickered. “My rules, from the Wedding Singer Rule Book.”

Hector smiled at her little white lie. “There’s no such thing.”

“There is a rule book. I wrote it myself.” She was even pretty when she frowned.

He shook the thought out of his head. He had to get her onto the dance floor so they could slip outside where he’d deliver his warning. He couldn’t let Killingsworth kidnap another woman on his watch. Doc would have to understand.

As he slid his chair back, the rubber-tipped legs stuttered across the polished floor. Melisenda flinched.

¡Mierda! The last thing he needed was to frighten her. “Please, I haven’t danced with anyone in a long time.”

She raised her chin and her rhinestones sparked. “Forgive me if I don’t believe you.”

A muscle twitched in his jaw. They were running out of time. Intending to overwhelm her resistance with action, he grabbed her lace-gloved hand. An electric buzz bolted through his hand and up his arm. He remained in his chair. Her fingers tightened. The overwhelming sense that she yearned to trust him dragged out a piece of the truth he’d never intended to share.

“I haven’t danced since my fiancée died. Maybe I can, with you.” Heat rose in the agent’s face. What the hell had come over him? Why would he reveal something related to his real past, not Hector’s imaginary one?

Melisenda’s face paled. She wrenched her hand away.

“You couldn’t have known,” he said in what he hoped was a soothing tone. He glanced around. No one seemed to have overheard him. But what had just happened? He’d once met a touch telepath who could transmit thoughts and sensory details through skin-to-skin contact. This was different, as if he’d been overwhelmed by her emotional energy.

“I know what it’s like to lose someone you love,” she said softly. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

His throat tightened. It had been years since he’d last heard those words. He reminded himself he knew next to nothing about her. He’d be a fool to let her get under his skin just because she was Talented. His goal was to get her out of Mendoza’s compound to safety without blowing his cover. Doc employed expert squints to sort out the complexities of Talent.

Taking care not to let his fingertips brush her skin, he lifted a long curl off her shoulder and pretended he’d felt nothing. “Your hair is like burnished copper. So beautiful.”

The silky strands slid between his fingers. The way she trembled tugged at a place in his core he’d thought long dead. ¡No manches¡ This was not the time for his libido to resurrect itself. He had to focus on getting her out of here. Afterward, she’d be Doc’s problem.

Thank you for reading this excerpt from BLINDSIGHT. If you enjoyed it, remember the book will be available on Valentine's Day! ~Sarah Raplee

www.sarahraplee.com

Copyright 2017 Sarah Raplee All Rights Reserved

Writing Romantic Suspense with a Paranormal Twist by Sarah Raplee

 

Hi, I’m Sarah Raplee, author of BLINDSIGHT (Psychic Agents Series Book 1).

Psychic Agents Series Blurb:

Over the last hundred years, the number of people with psychic gifts in the general populace, world-wide, continues to increase. The Special Psychic Agents of the FBI’s Global Resources Subdivision are a law enforcement resource hidden deep in the Bureau’s International Operations Division. These men and women are charged with using their powerful psychic Talents in support of FBI operations and foreign law enforcement organizations upon request. These unsung heroes routinely lay their lives—and their hearts—on the line in pursuit of justice for all.

As Matt Buchman said in his post last Saturday, writing a romantic thriller is a balancing act. The thriller storyline and the romance storyline must be so interwoven that one cannot stand without the other.

In the case of paranormal romantic thrillers like BLINDSIGHT, the paranormal elements must be integral to both storylines and to the main characters’ goals, motivations and conflicts. For me, writing one of these edge-of-your-seat stories was a whole lot of fun!

I took a world-building class, a class about weaving together the various elements of a story and a class on researching and writing diverse characters. The characters in this series reflect the richness of our diverse American culture.

Digging into subjects as wide-ranging as bear vaults, hypothermia, invisibility cloaks, and world history was fun. Brainstorming secondary characters, twists and turns in the plot and a doozie of a mid-point reversal was off-the-charts awesome. During revisions, discovering theme was a revelation. Somehow I’d written it in without knowing!

I'd have to say the most difficult thing for me to get right was pacing. Thrillers are mostly fast-paced, but this romance needed quieter moments spaced in as well. 

BLINDSIGHT Blurb:

When psychic FBI Agent Hector Guerrero’s family was kidnapped and murdered, he swore to stop the slave trade in psychics. Undercover for three years in the Mendoza Drug Cartel, he’s zeroing in on a hidden prison camp in Washington’s Cascade Mountains. Nothing will stop him from taking down the Cartel.

Blind wedding singer Melisenda Sepulveda can’t keep from projecting her emotional energy onto others through touch. Meli’s nomadic life performing throughout the Pacific Northwest allows her to avoid physical and emotional intimacy. But now the veterinarian insists her only family, her elderly Guide Dog Freddy, must stop traveling. Desperate to pay for a career change so she can work from home and keep her beloved companion, Meli accepts a risky gig at a drug lord’s wilderness wedding.

When the Cartel targets Meli for kidnapping, Hector loses his focus. When Meli blows his cover, she loses Hector’s trust. When Meli rescues Hector from a torture chamber, Hector might well lose his battered heart.

Excerpt:

Glancing around to make sure no one was watching, the agent poured his champagne into his neighbor’s empty glass. He couldn’t take a chance on dulling his thought processes.

Being Hector was like wearing an ill-fitting-but-familiar old suit that pinched in a couple of places, but not so badly he couldn’t ignore the discomfort most of the time. He had to be at the top of his game, one-hundred per cent in character to survive long enough to bring down the Mendoza Cartel.

The murmur of the crowd muted. Casting a glance over his shoulder, Hector spotted Killingsworth staring through the open French doors beside the musician’s dais like a lion spotting a threat—or prey. The back of the agent’s neck prickled.

Turning in his seat for a better look, he made out a shadowy female figure wearing a long gown. Why was Killingsworth so interested in her?

A swirl of iridescent fabric the color of sagebrush in springtime accompanied a dainty, green-slippered foot into the soft circle of light spilling from the ballroom. Conversation near the doorway hushed. Every male in the room homed in on the woman who left the shadows, a woman like no other the agent had encountered in the underworld of the Cartel.

Coppery curls spilled over the curve of one shoulder in a long, loose ponytail. In the warm glow of the chandeliers, rhinestones shimmered in her burnished hair and winked from the frames of her mysterious dark glasses. Her demure, floor-length gown failed to conceal her curves or the sweet, girl-next-door sexiness she exuded.

For the first time in nearly four years, desire unfolded in the agent’s belly.

In the world of the Cartel, women survived and sometimes thrived using a combination of cold cunning and artifice. They grew cynical and hard, or worn-down and resigned. Yet everything about this young woman sang the siren song of wholesome, soul-deep beauty. Even the crowded ballroom’s air smelled fresher with her in the room.

She hesitated, brushing back an errant curl with a small hand covered in sage-green lace. Beneath the twinkle of her dark glasses her wide mouth curved into a smile full of promise.

One of the blue-suited mariachis descended the dais steps and spoke softly to her. She nodded. Tucking one of her hands into the crook of his arm he led her to the little stage. He murmured something into her ear and she smiled. They ascended the three steps and crossed to the middle of the small, raised stage. The mariachi guided her gloved hand to a microphone stand.

Hector’s heart bucked like a wild burro. ¡Mierda! The woman was blind.

©Copyright 2017 Sarah Raplee

Thank you for reading my post.  This is a repost from 2017.~ Sarah Raplee

Fun Living the Dream by Sarah Raplee

MOTHER GOOSE

Hello, I'm Sarah Raplee, author paranormal romance that crosses genres into suspense, fantasy and steampunk.

When I was in second grade, my teacher introduced us to poetry through traditional nursery rhymes, like Little Boy Blue.

Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn.

The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn.

Where is the boy who looks after the sheep?

He's under a haystack, fast asleep.

Then she had us each write our own nursery rhyme.

This was mine:

               Little Boy Blue, come blow us a tune.
               The sheep’s in the meadow, the cow’s on the moon.
               Where is the boy who looks after the sheep?
               He’s under a moonbeam, fast asleep.

I loved playing with the words, re-imagining the story from the mundane to the magical. My teacher and parents were very encouraging. I decided I wanted to be a poet, author and artist when I grew up.

An unfortunate lack of eye-hand coordination (not to mention a lack of talent in the visual arts) soon convinced me to scratch “artist” from the list. But I never lost my love of language and writing and creating. I read widely and wrote stories and poems that others enjoyed.

As an adult, I sometimes thought about writing a novel, but for years Life—marriage, raising children, college, bringing home a regular paycheck—got in the way. Eventually, I took an adult education class in creative writing. I dabbled. With my sister’s encouragement (and following her example) I joined Romance Writers of America to learn about the craft of writing and the publishing business.

Years later, my childhood dream of becoming an author has come true. As long as I can continue to have fun learning and growing and uplifting others through creating stories, I’ll continue to write.

Visit Sarah's Amazon Author Page to check out her books!

Only at the Renaissance Faire…by Sarah Raplee

One of my favorite summer day trips is to the fantasy land that is the Oregon Renaissance Faire. This year’s Faire was in early June, with perfect weather at the Clackamas County Fairgrounds. 

Under stately Douglas fir trees stalwart knights, handsome gentlemen and well-dressed ladies mingled with wise women, monks and even Faerie Folk. Men, women and children dressed as barefoot, fun-loving peasants, royalty, warrior women, and jokers – the costumes were truly a feast for the eyes! 

Only at the Ren Faire do you see infants in Renaissance clothing, and even dogs in heraldic gear. At the Ren Faire, you experience a surprise at every turn. It's kind of like a big city Saturday Market caught in a time warp.

Food vendors sell gyros, meat pies or veggie pies, BBQ pork chops on a stick, chicken skewers, pepper poppers, root beer and birch beer, ale, meade and wine (in the pub, off limits to children), candies, cookies and milk, funnel cakes...You never know what you'll find! Only at the Ren Faire is a turkey leg considered finger food.

Merchants sell their wares, everything from clothing and jewelery to woodworking and swords. Only at the Ren Faire do you overhear an excited young male voice exclaim, “On the table in that booth was a multitude of sharp, pointy objects!”

Only at the Ren Faire can someone pay to have you placed in the stocks.

There are entertainers of all sorts: jugglers, acrobats, musicians, actors performing funny skits on stage, jokers and mimes, a parade, jousting and sword fights...Who knows what's next?

Only at the Ren Faire do the Pub bouncers look like this:

 Only at the Ren Faire can you ask a musician carrying what you think is a lute about his instrument and discover it is in fact an octave mandolin—whereupon the young gentleman standing behind you begins a knowledgeable discussion with the musician about the differences between various stringed instruments from bygone days!

Only at the Ren Faire can you converse with a Fairy Queen who speaks only the Fairy language.

Only at the Ren Faire do children ride unicorns, knights joust on horseback, and all comers have a wonderful, fantastical time!

I hope I've inspired some of you to enjoy a Renaissance Faire in your part of the world! ~Sarah

P.S.: Did I mention the man with a live cat in a harness attached to his large, wide-brimmed hat? Unfortunately the cat didn't look too happy, so I decided taking a flash photo (the merchant stall was dimly lit) was not a good idea.

Sarah Raplee is the author of BLINDSIGHT, Book 1 of the Psychic Agents Series available from all major online bookstores.

Visit her Amazon Author Page for more information.

BLOG-O-VERSARY RIFF ON 7 YEARS OF SPAM plus a GIVEAWAY by Sarah Raplee

Hi, I'm Sarah Raplee, one of the Blog Queens and the author of Blindsight, Psychic Agents Book 1. In honor of our 7th Blog-o-versary, I'm giving away a $7 Amazon E-Gift Card to one lucky reader who leaves their email address in a comment on this post by midnight PST on Monday, May 21st. I will not use your email addie for any other purpose.

 

Since it’s our Blog-o-versary Month, as one of the Blog Queens I thought it would be fun to riff on the evolution of SPAM comments. As writers, we are told to never annoy the reader. Although some SPAM comments are amusing, most are as annoying as a heroine who constantly swings her chestnut braid over her tanned shoulder. People are busy, and SPAM wastes our time.

Seven years ago, spammers were stupid and bold as hell. Unfortunately, SPAM filters on Blogger were also not real bright, so we occasionally had some stupid SPAM comments get through to the blog before we caught them. Luckily, Blogger’s SPAM filter was smart and learned from experience, so it improved quickly.

If you’ve been reading our blog since it began in May, 2011, you may have been startled by comments such as “Buy best Viagra online cheap at www.bestsexes .com” or “Male enhancement herb special 4U at www.longdong .com” or even “Best porn FREE at www.x-xxxxx .com.”

Apparently those early spammers thought Romance readers and writers must mostly be dumb, sex-crazed, inadequate men. They actually believed we’d click on their links, which had no relevance whatsoever to the posts. And they thought we didn’t know anybody can find free porn online.

FEMALE

Fast forward a couple years. Blogger’s SPAM filter got a lot smarter (THANK YOU, hard-working blog techs!), catching at least 95% of SPAM messages. We began to see fewer Viagra and male-enhancement spam messages caught in our spam filter, and more “Best vibrator best climax you like” or “Dildos, all sizes every female” messages.

Spammers had finally figured out most Romance writers and readers are female! (Snicker!)

Soon they also realized they could comment on old posts (many get paid for each “comment/ad” they post) and often bloggers wouldn’t know what to do to make them stop. Luckily, Judith and I know we have an option to show existing comments on a post but block new ones. Sometimes it’s a pain to have to update the setting in multiple posts, but well worth the effort because spammers move on easier pickings.

Notice that some comments were made in extremely questionable English, obviously done using a bad translator app. Some bloggers call the result "Spamglish".

Fast forward a few more years. Spammers began to try to disguise their nature by using general statements that mimic real comments. “This is the best blog I ever read on this subject! Thank you for sharing your expertise. I hope you will check out my blog at www.realperson.com . 

These are what I call ‘click bait comments’. The spammer is either being paid as some kind of affiliate and hoping you will click through their website to a company they are affiliated with (and paid by), or they are desperately trying to boost their pageviews to look impressive to visitors. In both cases, they are ‘fishing’ for their own gain and have no interest in your blog post.

Sometimes click-baiters try to play on your ego or your sympathy by claiming to need help with their own website and asking you to follow the link to it from their comment. Don’t be fooled!

TRAP CAM -  FOR PHOTOGRAPHING WILDLIFE

Fast forward to 2018. It seems the offspring of 2011’s stupid spammers have reached maturity. My post was titled THE JOY OF TRAP CAMS! Spammers’ tactics have circled back to bold and stupid!

THIS is what was caught in Blogger’s SPAM filter:

MY TESTIMONY ABOUT A GREAT SPELL CASTER CALLED (DR ALEKO) Your love spell has huge powers! I can’t believe what's happening to me! It's been only three weeks since you did that spell and Victor is already after me. Since the last week-end he phoned at least 5 times. I believe he seems to realize his mistakes. It's absolutely happening as you said!! Thank you! Your work is helping me so much…Without you I would feel so lonely and miserable…Thank you sir! Here is the Doctor contact in case you are passing through problem (followed by an email and What’s App phone number.)

Yeah, I’ll get right on it…after I check my Trap Camera for the cougar. I wonder if the Doctor has a spell to banish mountain lions?

Please share your SPAM stories below!!! 

Don't forget to leave your email addie in a comment to be eligible for the Amazon E-Gift Card drawing!

Embracing My Inner Free-Range Chicken

Hi, I'm Sarah Raplee, author of the Pychic Agents Series
(romantic suspense). 

WHAT A LIFE!!!

Although I have yet to be eligible for Medicare or Social Security, I do qualify for the “Honored Citizens” menu at Shari’s Restaurants. Recently, I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m no longer a “spring chicken”, as my grandmas used to say. 

I like to think I’m evolving to become more like the pet free-range hen that will never lay another egg, but who digs grubs like nobody’s business. Her antics keep her city-transplant family so entertained that they forgive her when she doesn’t always come when called.

Instead, they stumble around in the dark with flashlights, call fruitlessly and forge through the row of ancient arbor vitae standing tall above the fence line. There they find her roosting on a wooden fence rail. She greets them with a purring chuckle that elicits a fond shake of the head.  “Silly old chicken! What have you been up to?”

WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?
TO GET OUT OF THE SNOW!

Delighted to have another country life story to tell their city friends, they carry her back to the safety of the hen house and give her a handful of meal worms (aka “chicken treats”) to boot.

That’s my rambling fantasy of me reinventing myself as an elderly person. I’m holding onto it, beak and claw! ~ Sarah Raplee

A tenacious FBI Psychic Agent who can find anything…

A lonely blind woman with a dangerous kiss…

A brutal psychic criminal obsessed with killing one and controlling the other…

EXCERPT:

Glancing around to make sure no one was watching, the undercover FBI agent poured his champagne into his neighbor’s empty glass. He couldn't take a chance on dulling his thought processes. Being Hector was like wearing an ill-fitting-but-familiar old suit that pinched in a couple of places, but not so badly he couldn’t ignore the discomfort most of the time. But he had to be at the top of his game, one-hundred per cent in character to survive long enough to bring down the Mendoza Cartel.

The murmur of the crowd muted. Casting a glance over his shoulder, Hector spotted Killingsworth staring through the open French doors beside the musician’s dais like a lion spotting a threat—or prey. The back of the agent’s neck prickled.

Turning his head for a better look, he made out a shadowy female figure wearing a long gown. Why was Killingsworth so interested in her?

A swirl of iridescent fabric the color of sagebrush in springtime accompanied a dainty, green-slippered foot into the soft circle of light spilling from the ballroom. Conversation near the doorway hushed. Every male in the room homed in on the woman who left the shadows, a woman like no other the agent had encountered in the underworld of the Cartel.

Coppery curls spilled over the curve of one shoulder in a long, loose ponytail. Rhinestones shimmered in her burnished hair and winked from the frames of her mysterious dark glasses. Her demure, floor-length gown failed to curb the sweet, girl-next-door sexiness she exuded.

For the first time in four years, desire unfolded in the agent’s belly.

In the world of the Cartel, women survived and sometimes thrived using a combination of cold cunning and artifice. They grew cynical and hard, or worn-down and resigned. Yet everything about this woman sang the siren song of wholesome, soul-deep beauty. Even the warm, humid air smelled fresher with her in the room.

She hesitated, brushing back an errant curl with a small hand covered in sage-green lace to match her gown. Her wide mouth curved in a tremulous smile.

One of the blue-suited mariachis descended the dais steps and spoke softly to her. She nodded. Tucking one of her hands into the crook of his arm he led her to the little stage. He murmured something into her ear and she smiled. They ascended the three steps and crossed to the middle of the raised stage. The mariachi guided her gloved hand to a microphone stand.

Hector’s heart bucked like a wild burro. ¡Carajo! The woman was blind.

HARNESSING THE POWER OF PARTNERSHIP by Sarah McDermed

(Courtesy Guide Dogs for the Blind)

One of the most amazing service organizations I’ve ever encountered is Guide Dogs for the Blind. While doing research for my upcoming romantic suspense novel, BLINDSIGHT, it was my pleasure to visit their Oregon school campus and learn how these amazing animals are raised and trained, and how these magical human-canine partnerships are crafted—partnerships that have the power to change lives in amazing ways.

Did you know that two of Guide Dogs for the Blind’s co-founders were pioneering women who refused to accept the limitations society put on them?

(Courtesy Guide Dogs for the Blind)

Blind since infancy, Hazel Hurst had been partnered with a ‘Seeing Eye’ dog trained at the organization school in Morristown, N.J. She was a tireless advocate for the blind and fundraiser who in 1941 partnered with a former Seeing Eye Trainer, Don Donaldson, and fundraiser/administrator Lois Merrihew to found the Hurst Foundation in Monrovia, California.

Lois Merrihew had always dreamed of training guide dogs for the blind, but when she applied to an East Coast school to become a trainer, she was told women were not physically or emotionally suited for this type of work. Before long, Don Donaldson mentored Lois to become a guide dog trainer. (Kudos to Mr. Donaldson!)

LOIS MERRIHEW

Through tireless lecturing and demonstrations of guide dog activity Hazel Hurst, the Donaldsons and Lois Merrihew promoted the idea of a 'Guide Dog School for the Blind' in Northern California. When the United States entered the war, many people anticipated a growing need for guide dogs for blinded veterans returning home. Lois and Don shared their expertise with officials of the American Women's Voluntary Services (AWVS). With the support of key people, Guide Dogs for the Blind was established.

Although their first students were civilians, by 1943 GDP paired their first blinded veteran with a dog named Blondie. Many more veterans would be introduced to the joy and freedom of a Human-Guide partnership. Lois went on to become the school’s Director of Training.

"Of any of my accomplishments, I am most proud of Senate Bill #2391, passed in 1947, setting standards and licensing for both trainers and schools," she said. "Before then, anyone could 'train' and sell dogs to blind persons, without any guarantee of proper training." Lois was the first woman to become a licensed dog guide trainer.

30-second Video
Courtesy of Guide Dogs for the Blind)

Guide Dogs for the Blind is a tax-exempt charitable organization that receives no government funding. Private donations and thousands of volunteers make this school possible. Volunteers donate time as Breeding Stock Custodians, Guide Dog Puppy Raisers, Campus Volunteers and members of the Speakers Bureau. Their two school campuses are located in San Rafael, California, and in Boring, Oregon.

Please consider donating some of your hard-earned money, or better yet, time! Visit their website (source of the information and photographs in this blog post)at http://welcome.guidedogs.com/ for more information.

Thank you for reading my post. ~ Sarah Raplee

I don’t believe in magic. Except I do.

To be clear, I don’t mean “magic” tricks as in the art of illusion for entertainment, which uses sleight of hand and/or deceptive contraptions. Obviously those are real things, and there is nothing supernatural about them.

I’m talking about magic when it refers to the very real practices of sorcery, witchcraft, wizardry, occultism, etc. These Black Arts are called that for a reason: because they involve mere humans dabbling in unfamiliar powers that can neither be controlled, nor safely engaged.

I am a Christian by faith. That means that I believe there are only two sources of power in our little 3-dimensional universe: God and Not God. God is the source of all good things in our world: love, truth, beauty, hope, and real life. Not God is the source of all that is not good: hate, lies and deception, ugliness, hopelessness, and real death.

As humans we are titillated by the idea of supernatural powers, whether in the form of Marvel and DC Comics characters, or in something as (seemingly) innocuous as a Ouija board. Humans are born with an understanding that we are not the be-all and end-all of existence, so it’s natural for us to want to enter that mysterious not-3D realm. And let’s be honest; at some point, we all will.

In the meantime, messing with dark things that we really don’t understand can hurt us – now, and later.

I had to grapple with this when I decided to write a paranormal trilogy. I am walking a careful line between what could be God possible, and not allowing Not God to take any part in my story. So that means no demonic creatures, no shape-shifters, no zombies, vampires, or dead-people ghosts.

My solution? A Viking caught between life and death during Norway’s historical shift from Paganism to Christianity in 1070.

My precedent? Enoch, Elijah, and Lazarus.

My happy ending? My hero eventually gets his body back at the end of book two and picks up his life again.

After being stuck in the ether for 950 years.

Will traditional paranormal readers like him? Maybe. But he might be too tame for readers who regularly dine on blood and evil.

Will my Hansen Series fans like him? I think so. His unusual circumstance aside, he fits into the family quite nicely, as both the beginning and the end of my historical timeframe. Plus his contemporary heroine is a hoot.

Either way, the cross-dimensional and unique relationship between an 11th-century Viking and a 21st century woman is the kind of “magic” which I can happily embrace.

***

Coming in 2016:

An Unexpected Viking

A Restored Viking

A Modern Viking

What Do You Do When the "Prompt" is Wrong?

Well, not wrong, exactly. It works perfectly well for most authors: "I walked into the Dreams Convention, and…" Write one to two thousand words. Go.

Now I happen to be one of those odd ducks who refuses to write anything that does not fit her brand; I do not wish to waste either the words, or the effort. But I write historical novels, not contemporary. And I have never written anything in first person, except the novella of one character's journal.

And yet, I co-run the Dreams Convention, and was in on the planning for this opportunity. I cannot pass up the chance to be involved. It will be great promo for my books!

What's an author to do?

Stretch, apparently. With that idea in mind, I launched into my first contemporary paranormal story. Ever. I've read a couple—well, more than a couple if Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" novels count. And while I couldn't get into the books, I did watch the "Twilight" movies. And "Young Frankenstein."

I know enough about the genre to realize that world-building is key. Whatever the rules for the fantastical element, they must be logical and consistent throughout the manuscript. Because, yeah, a manuscript is what this is turning into. Two, actually. I think it might even be a trilogy.

If you know me, then you know that I write the Hansen Series with Norwegian heroes. And the only way I figured I could be true to that brand, was by making the hero a Viking ghost from the year 1069.

"I walked into the Dreams Convention, and saw him across the foyer, leaning casually against the wall. His eyes flicked back and forth, examining the crowd with unexpected seriousness. He must be one of the cover models, dressed as he was in costume—though leather was an unfortunate choice on this roasting summer evening in Phoenix."

And just like that, Sveyn Hansen manifested himself into my life. And into the life of Hollis McKenna, curator for the brand new Natural History wing (which does not exist) at the Arizona Historical Society Museum (which does) in Tempe, Arizona. Boom.

Sveyn was far too compelling to be quiet. He kept explaining what happened to him, and how he really is not a ghost, because he never actually died. And then I realized why he has been drawn to Hollis: to finally get his Happily Ever After.

I have bounced my premise and its resolution off several paranormal-reading friends, and every one of them bought into it. And when I explained the major shift in the middle of their relationship, they got goose bumps. Goose bumps.

The moral of all this is simple: embrace challenges, and use them as opportunities to be creative, especially within preset parameters.

Sure, I could have tossed off a quick contemporary story. Just written the two thousand words and been done with it. If I had, however, I would not have met Sveyn. And meeting him opens up a whole range of possibilities which I never considered before.

So. What will you do when the prompt is wrong?

Paranormal Romantic Suspense/Mysteries Series

by Madelle Morgan

The RTG theme this month is paranormal romance. Although I don’t write ‘em, for pure entertainment I sure love to read light mystery/suspense with a psychic heroine in a relationship with a yummy hero. Here are three of my favorite series.

First book in the series.

Author Victoria Laurie’s Psychic Eye cozy mysteries

The heroine, Abby Cooper, is a professional psychic whose boyfriend Dutch is a hunky FBI agent. Her best friend Candice is a private investigator. Abby uses her gift to help solve Dutch and Candice’s cases. Needless to say this regularly puts Abby in life-threatening danger. 

A cool aspect of this eleven book series is that it’s written by a professional psychic. The reader therefore gets insight into how a real life psychic receives information from “her crew” aka her spirit guides. 

Dog lovers: Abby owns an adorable dachshund named Eggy.

Author Heather Webber’s Lucy Valentine cozy mysteries

First book in the series.

Another must-buy for me is the latest fun mystery novel about psychic Lucy Valentine and her developing romance with a gorgeous former firefighter turned private investigator. 

As the series progresses Lucy comes to terms with her unique talent – finding lost items – and applies it as the head of the Lost Loves Division in her father’s matchmaking business. (He makes clients fill out extensive forms, but actually reads their auras to find a match.) 

You’d think finding lost loves would be straightforward for a psychic, but Lucy keeps getting mixed up in murder. If you’re feeling a bit down, the humor in this four book series is the perfect antidote. The well-drawn characters in her family are very amusing. 

Cat lovers: Lucy has a special three legged cat named Grendel.

First contemporary in the series.

Author Jayne Anne Krentz’s Arcane Society series. 

Jayne says on her website that this series is “romantic suspense with a psychic twist.” The very old Arcane Society is a secret society devoted to psychical research. 

Members genetically pass on their gifts to the next generation, and avid readers can follow families through the decades. 

Each stand alone book is set either in the past or present day and describes a uniquely gifted heroine and hero’s dangerous journey to love and commitment.  The Arcane Society has a matchmaking service to bring together gifted members but these special talents seem to find each other irregardless. Because the books in this series are either contemporaries or historicals written under three pseudonyms, to find them it's easiest to consult the list of twelve books in the series.

Two reasons I love the Arcane Society series are:

• the hero and heroine both have powerful psychic abilities, creating a dynamic that REALLY complicates their relationship, and
• the psychic abilities are actually DIFFERENT - not the usual clairvoyant or psychometry types. Jayne’s wonderful imagination creates incredible psychic gifts that will intrigue the most jaded reader of paranormal romantic suspense.

 Which paranormal romance series do you enjoy?