Writerly Wednesday Welcomes Jane Toombs

Writerly Wednesday is pleased to clear space for a very interesting series of books.  Welcome Jane Toombs!

Title of Series : GOLDEN CHANCES
Author: Jane Toombs
Blurb: A fast-moving, dramatic California saga about the people–Spanish, Anglo, Mexican and Indian who struggled, fought, made mistakes, loved and survived to build the foundations of the Golden State:
Book 1. The Bastard
Book 2. The Interloper
Book 3.The Dancer
Book 4. The Rebel
Book 5. The Fixer
Book 6. The Deceiver
Book 7. The Wild Card
New release from BWLPP: The Bastard is out now. The other books will follow at about two to three week intervals. The series will be both in ebook format and later paper-back.
https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-goldenchancesbook1thebastard-601705-152\
.html
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/90188
http://bwlpp.com/janetoombs.php (best choice for now)
Will be on Amazon soon.

Bio: Jane Toombs , a retired RN, lives with the Viking from her past and their calico grandcat, Kinko, in Michigan’s beautiful Upper Peninsula wilderness. Their home is across the road from the south shore of Lake Superior, which means they enjoy three marvelous seasons, plus a horrible winter. Jane’s the author of going on ninety novels and novellas. She wrote for NY pubs for years–Avon, Berkley, Kensington, Harlequin/Silhouette , Dell and Pocket–but now writes exclusively for Epubs She loves her Kindle and many of her books are available on Kindle. . .

Her website: www.JaneToombs.com All her books, old and new are listed here. The available ones have buy links.

Jane, as Dame Turquoise, is also a member of Jewels Of The Quill, a closed group of twelve multi-published authors who promote each other and do anthologies together . We have giveaways each month and on holidays for members of our newsletter. If you go to the URL below on Authors, then my name, you can see my page–and also join our newsletter if you like.
www.JewelsoftheQuill.com

—
As you can see, I did title the first book THE BASTARD. While I didn’t sugarcoat his misdeeds, I did try to show why he was like he was. It certainly is a challenge, making the founder of the series not necessarily a good guy, just one who had only a single objective–land. And, well, yes, going after what he wanted. I knew it might put off readers who expected a genuine gold-plated hero, but Diarmid was what he was and he wouldn’t let me sugar-coat him.

All the rest of the books have both villains and heroes, but never within the same person. It was really a challenge to write about Diarmid. I wouldn’t want to handle another main character like him every day. Or do the research this series took again.

Interview

Where did  the idea for the book you’re promoting arise?

 

I’ve
lived  in many places in California–from
San Diego to Los Angeles, to the San Joaquin Valley.  Since I‘m now an old bat, this was quite
awhile back, when California wasn’t like it is now.   Each place I lived there had its own feel of
the past–an aura of what-used-to-be about it.
I’ve written about the past in these areas many times, usually with
paranormal included.  But always with
likeable heroes and heroines.

 

So the creation of a
multidimensional good/bad protagonist for the first book  of this series took me by surprise, but he
insisted that’s how he was,  Not only is
he literally a bastard,  he also commits
unlikable acts, possessed  as he is by
the idea of owning land.

Doing research taught me that
in most European countries in the past, including Scotland,  bastards could not own land.  As Diarmid is a bastard Scottish  immigrant, this is a prime objective for him.

 

He also has second  sight, which is about the only paranormal
element in the series.

 

What  do you like to read?

 

As you might guess from the
above–paranormal. No doubt I was influenced by E.A, Poe in my early years
because my folks never limited my reading–anything in the family bookcase was
fine with them.  I liked both his poems
and stories. So while I don’t enjoy too much blood and gore, I do enjoy eerie
stories. As a child  I saw the original
movies of Frankenstein with Boris Karloff and Dracula with Bela Lugosi  (told you I was an old bat).  Though they really scared me, I did like both
of them. But  for some reason–maybe
because Bela Lugosi scared me so much–to this day the idea of vampires as
heroes jut doesn’t work for me.  It
creeps me out to think of a lover who’d want to suck my blood.

Shapeshifter stories, though,
I do enjoy.  What fun to be able to
change shape and run in the night under the moon.

But I like romance, too, so I
do enjoy happy endings, whether for now or forever.

 

Most exciting place you’ve
ever visited?

 

Cornwall, England–what a
fascinating place! I was able to actually get to do something I‘ve always
wanted to do–walk across at low tide to
what was once  a monastery, now
owned and lived in by an earl, who we actually met in passing  as we walked on the paving stones toward it. “Morning,
Pilgrims,” he said to us, which I learned was his standard greeting.  Not all of this fantastic structure is open
to the public, but much of it is.  I also
got to visit most of their standing stones and visit Land’s End.

 

Share something mundane
about  yourself.

 

Like many authors, I’m also
the housekeeper–do my own housework, including all the cooking and clothes
washing.  Have to admit, though, the
Viking does help with the cooking–he makes a lot of the breakfasts and grates
cheese for me for those meals that need it.
I’ve always hated grating cheese and this to me is an act of love on his
part.  We shop for groceries together,
too.  We take care of our grandcat
jointly, but he does change the sandbox.
Yes, he is a Keeper.

 

What scares you?

 

Mostly the thought of “bad
guys.” I know they’re out there.   Though
I don’t worry daily about this, I don’t like to be alone at night.  And, no, the cat doesn’t count as company .
Though we technically live  in a
wilderness area, I don’t worry about the
wolves, bears and any  possible
cougars that may be my neighbors. In books as well,  psychopathic killers  scare me more than monsters or any other
paranormal manifestation.

 

Tell us anything–g-rated.

 

I did have one eerie
experience I never want to be repeat.  I
always thought privately that Tarot cards were just for fun, but I’ve  them in many of my paranormal stories.  At the time, I was married to a man who was
also an author, but did not write in the paranormal area.  He made fun of those who believed in such
things and, for a joke, gave me a gift certificate for my birthday for a Tarot
reading.

 

I didn’t use it right
away.  It was January before I got around
to visit the person who did the readings.

 

She was young–in fact she
had to put her toddler son down for a nap before she did the reading.  Which was at the kitchen table, no less. The
only thing she did for atmosphere was light a candle.  The reading itself was innocuous, though she
did pause once and frown.  When she
finished I thanked her and actually had my jacket on and was heading for the
door, when she put her hand on my arm.

 

“I don’t like to tell you
this, but I did see something very dark in your future,” she said.  “Something unexpected and not good.”

I nodded, thanked her again,
thinking it was a pitch for a return visit, and I left.

 

In February , my husband and
I visited Phoenix for a conference where I was the speaker. We extended the
visit an extra week for a vacation from the Upstate NY cold. Early one evening
he began to act strangely, not making
sense.  I called 911 and they took
him to the hospital.  I had a friend in
town and called her.  She came to the
hotel and drove ahead of me to the hospital so I could find it.  Since it was after midnight by then, I sent
her home.

 

In the ER, the doctor came
into the waiting room and took me inside to a small private area.  Her news was grim indeed.  My husband was on life support, his brain
waves already showing no activity.  They
wanted permission to pull the plug.  What
he had was a sudden malignant leukemia that manifested itself so quickly  nothing could save him.  I’m a nurse, so I know what flat brain waves
mean–brain death. So I gave permission to take him off life support and sat
with him until he was truly dead.

 

Not until I got back home
with his ashes  did I remember the Tarot
reading and wished I hadn’t.  I didn’t
want to believe she saw death in the cards.
I never asked, so never found out.

From Sally – as a tarot reader I dread giving bad news and tend to call the future – a trend that can change just by knowing about it.  I always went out of my way to put a positive spin on my readings.  Yep, Sally is a chicken when it comes to this topic.

Come back next week when Karina Fabian will submit to my questions!

Thank you so much, Jane, for being a guest at Writerly Wednesday and I wish you many sales.

Her website: www.JaneToombs.com    All her
books, old and new are listed here.  The available ones have buy links.