20 May 2015

Say Hello To Holly

The fifth blog post in the week-long Witchlight Blog Tour has been published. Goodreads author Ute Carbone has generously hosted it on her website. Thank you, Ute.

The post is called "Say Hello To Holly" and it introduces Holly Jepps, the lead character of J.S.'s new paranormal novel Witchlight. The beginning of the post is as follows:



I’m over the moon that the wonderfully generous Ute Carbone has invited me back to her superb blog to talk about (or should that be write about?) my new paranormal novel, Witchlight.

Witchlight is being published this week by Vagabondage Press in both paperback and e-format and Ute’s kind invitation provides me with a brilliant opportunity to introduce you to my novel’s lead character, Holly Jepps. I become very attached to all my characters, but there’s something about Holly that has made her especially special to me and I hope readers of Witchlight are going to like her as much as I do.

Witchlight is a paranormal tale, with a touch of romance. Like Harry Potter, Holly discovers she has previously unknown magic powers, but as she is thirty-eight rather than eleven, all similarities end there. Holly lives on her own with her much-loved pet cat, Barny. She’s a talented personal counsellor, hasn’t had a smooth-run, romantically speaking, and leads a normal, unexceptional life, until one day, and without warning, her fairy godfather turns up to tell her that she’s a witch with inherited magic powers. Needless to say, this comes as something of a shock to Holly, who suddenly has a lot of adjusting to do.

They say that writers always put a little bit of themselves in their characters. To a greater or lesser degree, I agree and that partially explains why I feel such a close affinity for Holly. Whilst I have never been gifted with even the slightest hint of magical powers, I am aware that there is probably more of me in Holly than in most of my other characters. Admittedly I’m not going to see thirty-eight again anytime soon, but Holly is a short, independent woman living on her own in Cambridgeshire, England: a description that pretty much fits me too. Holly lives with Barny, her beloved black and white cat. My life is ruled with a paw of iron by Dickens, a black and white lad who is proudly feline to the tips of his very fine whiskers...



To see the whole of the post and read the second half, along with Ute's introduction, go to Ute's Blog, "Coffee With Friends" http://www.utecarbone.com/coffee-with...

The sixth post of the tour is due to be published on Thursday on the Candy Raves website. It's called "The Witch's Cat" and it has been written by a very special blogger.