It’s been eleven years since
we moved from our cottage-turned-lake-house to the burbs of a historic southern
Ontario town on the Detroit River, yet I can still feel the pull of the former
cottage country lifestyle reel me in, especially during the summer months. Why?
It wasn’t because of the blackflies! LOL! The truth is I found that life was
slower up there in retrospect, and getting to live so close to nature was a
privilege and blessing. However, Hubby and I knew the time was ripe to move,
and let someone else enjoy the home we built by the lake. So, we sold the old homestead,
complete with a westerly view to die for, pulled up our stakes, and moved to a
warmer climate to be closer to family, and new opportunities for us.
Do I regret moving? Sometimes.
That’s one of the reasons why I created the fictional tourist town of Fairy
Falls. It was a place where I could set my teen psychic mystery series,
Mysterious Tales from Fairy Falls around the beautiful Canadian cottage country
landscape that I left behind. By doing this I was able to share my experiences,
and expand my imagination through my psychically-gifted characters using the
art of storytelling as a means of conveyance. Fairy Falls is now a place where
I can visit anytime I choose, without the need of purchasing a can or two of
bug spray. Wink.
Setting the series was the
easy part. Write what you know, right? So I took in the sights, smells, sounds,
tastes, emotions, and feelings of where I used to live, and added the
challenges and obstacles of what it would be like for an uprooted teenager
possessing a psychic ability to adjust to the day-to-day living in Fairy Falls,
then gave them a mystery to solve. Meagan Walsh, the protagonist from Lost and Found tells us what she thinks
of Fairy Falls right off the bat: “This town sucks!”, and she goes on to
describe it as ‘a small, boring northern tourist town’. If only Meagan knew
what life had planned for her in this magical place!
Speaking of magical, if you’d
like to pay a visit to Fairy Falls during this summer (or winter if you live in
the southern hemisphere), and feed your need to read at the same time, please
consider curling up with one of my books. Here’s a glimpse into my cottage
country mysteries…
Lost & Found, Book One:
Fairy Falls
was bores-ville from the get-go. Then the animals started talking...
The Fairy
Falls Animal Shelter is in trouble. Money trouble. It’s up to an old calico
cat named Whiskey—a shelter
cat who has mastered the skill of observation—to find a new human pack leader so that their home will
be saved. With the help of Nobel, the leader of the shelter dogs, the animals
set out to use the ancient skill of telepathy to contact any human who bothers
to listen to them. Unfortunately for fifteen-year-old Meagan Walsh, she hears
them, loud and clear.
Forced to
live with her Aunt Izzy in the safe and quiet town of Fairy Falls, Meagan is
caught stealing and is sentenced to do community hours at the animal shelter
where her aunt works. Realizing Meagan can hear her, Whiskey realizes that
Meagan just might have the pack leader qualities necessary to save the animals.
Avoiding Whiskey and the rest of shelter animals becomes impossible for Meagan,
so she finally gives in and promises to help them. Meagan, along with her
newfound friends, Reid Robertson and Natalie Knight, discover that someone in
Fairy Falls is not only out to destroy the shelter, but the animals as well.
Can Meagan convince her aunt and co-workers that the animals are in danger? If
she fails, then all the animals’ voices will be silenced forever.
Lost & Found Buy Links:
PANDAMONIUM
PUBLISHING HOUSE ׀ AMAZON ׀
Blackflies & Blueberries, Book Two:
The only witness left to testify against an unsolved
crime in Fairy Falls isn’t a person…
City born and bred, Hart Stewart possesses the gift of psychometry—the
psychic ability to discover facts about an event or person by touching
inanimate objects associated with them. Since his mother’s death,
seventeen-year-old Hart has endured homelessness, and has learned ways to keep
his illiteracy under wraps. He eventually learns of a great-aunt living in
Fairy Falls, and decides to leave the only life he’s ever known for an
uncertain future.
Diana MacGregor lives in Fairy Falls. Her mother was a victim of a
senseless murder. Only Diana’s unanswered questions and her grief keeps her
going, until Hart finds her mother’s lost ring and becomes a witness to her
murder.
Through Hart’s psychic power, Diana gains hope for justice. Their
investigation leads them into the corrupt world threatening Fairy Falls. To
secure the town’s future, Hart and Diana must join forces to uncover the
shocking truth, or they risk losing the true essence of Fairy Falls forever.
Blackflies & Blueberries Buy Links:
PANDAMONIUM
PUBLISHING HOUSE ׀ AMAZON ׀
Coming Soon
through Pandamonium Publishing House:
Sticks & Stones, Book Three:
The healing needs to leave the circle for
all to be whole.
Fourteen-year-old
Thane Berg never asked to move to Fairy Falls—or to live with the father he
barely knows. But when he starts manifesting
strange powers—bending tools, levitating rocks, and moving objects with his
mind—his world turns upside down. His psychic ability, psychokinesis, grows
stronger and harder to control with every emotional spike. As if navigating a
new school and a strained relationship with his gay father weren’t challenging
enough, Thane must also keep his powers hidden while grappling with secrets
from the past.
With the help of an eccentric
neighbor, Thane begins to understand his paranormal gift. A mysterious
book—tied to an ancient Druid and discovered in the school library—may hold the
key to his powers. But things take a darker turn when he and three new friends
stumble upon an illegal marijuana grow-op on his grandfather’s rural property.
The operation is poisoning the land—and something far older and more magical
than anyone suspects.
Now,
Thane must harness his unstable abilities to protect his friends, heal the
damage done to the forest, and preserve the mystical legacy of Fairy Falls. If
he fails, he risks losing everything—and everyone—he’s come to care about.
There you have it!
Great summer (or winter) reading material at your fingertips. Have you ever visited
a small town while on vacation and felt at home there for some reason? If you
could choose a psychic ability, what would be your choice? I’d love to read
your comments. Cheers, and as always, thank you for spending your time reading
my blog!
