Readers, I’d never
heard the term “Steam Punk” until a friend on Facebook said that the cover of Maggie’s Journey looked like Steam Punk.
I had to do research on the term to find out what it was. I contacted that
friend back and told her that the book wasn’t Steam Punk. I didn’t want her to
buy it and be disappointed. But she answered that maybe I would get some new
readers if they thought it was. She really liked my writing as well as Steam
Punk.
Welcome, Shelley. Why
do you write the kind of books you do?
Because the only limit to what I can do is out there at the
edge of my imagination. I’ve been a fan of steampunk since the sixties, when
all we neighborhood kids would make up adventures from Wild Wild West. I was the oldest, so I got to be James West, but
secretly I admired Artemus Gordon for his skill with nifty devices and
inventions. When I got the idea for the Magnificent Devices series, it was the
natural flowering of something I’d loved for years.
Besides when you came
to know the Lord, what is the happiest day in your life?
Any day I can spend writing is a happy day. In fact, if I
can’t write, I get nervous and cranky and generally hard to live with. My
husband has learned to adapt.
How has being
published changed your life?
There’s an inner fulfillment in a writing life that can’t be
satisfied any other way. I’ll never forget that day back in 2002 when I had
just been laid off from a company where I’d worked for 12 years. I was sitting
at my desk at home, disconsolate, wondering what I should do. The phone rang
and it was an editor at Harlequin, calling to make an offer on my MA thesis,
which was a romance novel. After that, I didn’t care one bit about being laid
off. My career made a 90-degree turn and I’ve never looked back. Never went
back to corporate, either. And when I stopped freelancing and committed to
writing full time, it’s been all systems go. There is nothing better than your
day job being the thing you love.
That is so true. What
are you reading right now?
I just finished Elizabeth George’s latest mystery, Just One Evil Act. It was fabulous. Like
two mysteries wrapped into one, with Inspector Lynley the handsome cherry on
top J
What is your current
work in progress?
Alongside the Magnificent Devices books I write as Shelley
Adina, I’m also doing an Amish women’s fiction series as Adina Senft for
Hachette FaithWords. It’s called the Healing Grace series, and it’s about an
Amish herbal healer who solves emotional and spiritual mysteries as God helps
her heal her patients in her community. The book I’m working on is called Keys of Heaven. Each book’s title is the
country name of an important herb in the book, and also a metaphor for the
spiritual malady that needs to be cured. The first book, Herb of Grace, will be out in August 2014.
What would be your
dream vacation?
I’ve already been to all the places I ever dreamed of going
(Venice , Austria ,
England , Asia ),
with the exception of one. I’d really like to travel to New Zealand .
Yes, I want to see a hobbit hole. And Edoras. And fly on a plane that has Smaug
painted on the side. How cool is that?
How do you choose
your settings for each book?
The story chooses them, really. In the Magnificent Devices
books, we begin in London at a posh girls’ school, then everything rapidly goes
to pieces and we find ourselves in the East End criminal underworld, then in
Cornwall, then being hijacked by sky pirates and crash landing in the Texican
Territory, then escaping jail in Santa Fe, then going to diamond mines in the
far north, then coming back to London and embarking on a university career in
Bavaria. And that’s just the adventures of Lady Claire, my original heroine. Now
I’m writing the stories of the orphans in her underworld gang, and so far we’ve
been in Bavaria , London , and the Cotswolds. In book six, we’re
going to Penzance and then I suspect more hijacking of airships will occur and
our heroines will end up in France !
Quel horreur! The lucky thing is,
I’ve been to all the locations I write about, so the details of the settings
have accurate flavor and detail, even though it’s historical fantasy.
If you could spend an
evening with one person who is currently alive, who would it be and why?
I’d like to talk books and characters with Johnny Depp over
a plate of steamed crab and sourdough bread.
What are your
hobbies, besides writing and reading?
I rescue chickens. You wouldn’t think that in this huge
urban area where I live that this would be necessary, but it is. I came out of
the house one Saturday morning and there was a cardboard box on the porch
containing a Black Australorp hen. My husband rescued a Rhode Island Red on a
freeway on-ramp. And people bring them to me. I got a bird from someone in a
parking lot once—I swear, we looked like a pair of drug traffickers doing a
deal. For me, there is nothing lovelier than that moment when an abused
creature gives you her trust. All of my birds are voice trained, and the first
step is gaining that trust.
Along with the chickens, I enjoy a number of other things. I
play the piano and Celtic harp, and I’m a historical costumer. Which is really
handy when I’m doing steampunk booksignings, because it’s a fact universally
acknowledged that if you work in this genre, you make your own costumes and
wear them in public without fear.
What is your most
difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it?
My obstacle is common to most writers, I think: the blank
page and the blinking cursor. I overcome it by doing extensive character and
structure work in advance. Once I have the story’s structure and the theme it’s
going to work out through the characters’ journeys, I’m good to go.
What advice would you
give to a beginning author?
Don’t give up. This business isn’t for the faint of heart.
If you’re burning to tell a story, get all the training you can and tell it.
Check university extensions and community colleges for writing classes. Take
classes online. Focus on your craft until it becomes instinctive and the story
flows through it. And then pull out all the stops, be true to the story in your
heart, and write!
Tell us about the
featured book.
After a four-book cycle of the adventures of Lady Claire, in
book five I turn to her wards, who were 10-year-old twins nicknamed the Mopsies
when we first met them. Now, in A Lady of Resources, they’re sixteen
and looking at what sort of woman they intend to be. The story focuses on
Lizzie, who, as a former pickpocket and scout, is having a difficult time with
her options. Here’s the back-cover blurb:
You can choose your friends, but you cannot choose your
family ... or can you?
Now sixteen, the twins Lizzie and Maggie are educated young
ladies who have not been called “the Mopsies” in years … except by their
guardian, Lady Claire Trevelyan. With the happy prospect of choosing their own
future, the girls can leave their dodgy past behind, and Lizzie can bury her
deepest childhood memories where they can do no harm. Upon her graduation from
school, Lizzie is awarded an enormous honor—but can she pay the price? Is she
ready to be separated from Maggie and become the woman she believes she was
meant to be—or will old habits tempt her into defiance and plunge her into
disaster?
On a dare, Lizzie picks the wrong man’s pocket and nearly
loses her life. But these frightening events bear unexpected fruit: The dream
Lizzie holds closest to her heart comes true in a most unexpected way. But this
dream, too, comes with a price. Lizzie must decide whether her true family is
the one she was born to … or the one she chose that long-ago day when the Lady
of Devices steamed into their lives …
Please give us the
first page of the book.
June 1894
“Of all the infernal instruments man ever made, the corset
is the worst.” Lizzie de Maupassant struggled with the hooks on the front of
the glossy brocade undergarment, which one had to wear in order to make
everything that went on top of it hang properly. “Look at this, Maggie. It
bends where it oughtn’t and pokes everywhere else.” She smashed the placket
together, which only made the hooks she’d managed already pop apart. “Argh!”
Lizzie flung the wretched thing across the Lady’s room,
where it landed on the windowsill like an exhausted accordion.
“Fits of temper won’t solve anything.” Her twin’s tone held
no criticism, only reason. “Come on. Let me have a go.”
Maggie rescued the poor corset, bought new for the grand
occasion of the graduation of Lady Claire Trevelyan, the girls’ guardian, from
the University of
Bavaria , and passed it
about Lizzie’s chemise- and petticoat-clad form.
“I don’t miss the old lace-ups,” Lizzie said, feeling calmer
as Maggie’s clever fingers made short work of the row of hooks, “but I’ll say
this for them—they were more forgiving of a mort’s curves than these new ones.
Even if it were made specially for me.”
“Don’t say mort.”
“Ent nobody here but us. We don’t have to be so careful
about our diction and deportment—” She mimicked the squeaky tones of Mademoiselle
Dupree, the mistress of their class by that name. “—when we’re on our own.”
“The Lady says that’s the test of a true lady—that she does
the right thing even when nobody’s looking.”
“Aye, more’s the pity,” Lizzie sighed. “We might pass our
exams, but we’ll never remember everything she probably knew by the time she
was ten.”
The door opened and the Lady herself breezed in. “All who
knew? Goodness, Lizzie, we’re to be in the ballroom in two hours and you’re not
even dressed, to say nothing of your hair.”
Maggie patted the corset and released her. “Won’t be a tick,
Lady.” The corset now lay obediently where it ought, hugging Lizzie’s waist
into a satisfyingly narrow width, and flaring out over hips and bust, which possessed
dimensions not quite so satisfying. The Lady said to give it time, that she
herself had been eighteen before resigning herself to a sylph-like silhouette
rather than the majestic curves fashion now favored. But if one didn’t have an
idea of one’s silhouette by now, then the odds weren’t very good, were they?
I can’t wait to read
the whole book. How can readers find you on the Internet?
You can explore the Magnificent Devices books, as well as
all my other releases as Shelley Adina, at http://www.shelleyadina.com . And for
the Healing Grace and Amish Quilt series written as Adina Senft, visit http://www.adinasenft.com .
It's always my pleasure to welcome you to my blog, Shelley.
Readers, here are links to the book. By using one when you order, you help support this blog.
A Lady of Resources: A steampunk adventure novel (Magnificent Devices) (Volume 5) - paperback
A Lady of Resources: A steampunk adventure novel (Magnificent Devices) - Kindle
Leave a comment for a chance to win a free copy of the book. Please tell us where you live, at least the state or territory. (Comments containing links may be subject to removal by blog owner.)
Void where prohibited; the odds of winning depend on the number of entrants. Entering the giveaway is considered a confirmation of eligibility on behalf of the enterer in accord with these rules and any pertaining local/federal/international laws.
The only notification you’ll receive is the winner post on this blog. So be sure to check back a week from Saturday to see if you won. You will have 4 weeks from the posting of the winners to claim your book.
If you’re reading this on Google +, Feedblitz, Facebook, Linkedin, or Amazon, please come to the blog to leave your comment if you want to be included in the drawing. Here’s a link.
Http://lenanelsondooley.blogspot.com
16 comments:
what an unusual young woman you are, rescuing chickens, now that is a new one for me. I have not read your work but sounds like you put a lot of yourself into it. thanks for sharing.
Paula O(kyflo130@yahoo.com)
a reader in Ga
I have never read any of Shelly's books but this one sounds good and I would like to read it. I will also look forward to her new series Healing Grace.
so nice of you to rescue chickens, I live farm community and they usually end up in auction here.
Thank you from Ohio
mcnuttjem0(at)gmail(dot)com
would love to win. Angela from KY
Thanks, Paula and Jackie! I love my birds ... I go out into the garden when it's warm and write, with them pecking and scratching for bugs all around me. We're all very industrious!
If you have an e-reader, Lady of Devices, the first book in the Magnificent Devices series, is free on all the retailers! It's a good way to see if you'd like the rest--I hope you do!
Shelley
This really sounds like a book I would enjoy!
Jean K
West Palm Beach, FL
Shelly got me hooked with the first Devices book and I've been waiting for each new one since.
Beau
Atlants
Beau, how kind! "A Lady of Spirit" will be out in April, I hope!
When you pack your bags for "Middle Earth" I would wish I was going along too.
I'm looking forward to catching up with your books.
Mary P
QLD AUSTRALIA
This looks like a great book! Thank you for this opportunity.
Jean K
West Palm Beach, FL
I've loved this series from the moment I started it! The setting and characters are awesome! I still need to read Brilliant Devices and this book but busyness and a stack of review books have prohibited me! Would love to win this one!
Forgot to say I'm from PA!
I'm so glad you like them, Abbi! (And I was just in Strasburg doing a book signing for them!)
I raised some Black Australorp x Rhode Island Red crosses a few years ago and the were the best laying hens. Our family loves fresh eggs almost as much as I love historical fiction. I would live to win a copy of your book.
Tonja VA
I enjoyed the picture of you and the chicken! The books looks very interesting.
Beth from Iowa
I just downloaded "Lady of Devices" to my kindle app --this sounds like a neat series! I've only seen Steam Punk in terms of costuming or cosplay, so I can't wait to read book 1! Thanks for the chance to win --this sounds like a neat series!
jafuchi7[at]hawaii[dot]edu
(P.S. --I'm from Hawaii)
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