DRAGONFLY WINGS - Elizabeth Ann Boyles - One Free Book

Welcome back, Elizabeth. Why do you write the kind of books you do? My desire is to share the good news of Jesus in a way that primes the reader’s interest because of intriguing plots. My choice of the Japanese setting with American and Japanese characters is due to my love for Japan, which has grown ever since I lived there in my twenties. Only one-half-of-one percent of the people in Japan are Christians. They need the Good News!

 

Besides when you came to know the Lord, what is the happiest day in your life? It’s impossible to select just one day. Some of the happiest days were my wedding day, arriving in Japan as a missionary, and my children’s and grandchildren’s physical and spiritual births.

 

How has being published changed your life? I’ve had to deal with my motivations. Do I want to be known as a best-selling author, or will I trust God to use my best efforts as He wishes whether or not my books gather a large audience? The Lord often has to transform my thinking.

 

What are you reading right now? I’m reading Lethal Outbreak by Lisa Harris and Lynne Gentry. It’s a page turner and informative at the same time.

 

What is your current work in progress? It is the story of a young American sailor and a Japanese brother and sister marooned on an uninhabited island with a pirate. It is similar to a Treasure-Island-type adventure with an inspirational element, possibly written for young adults. The story has a connection to the Dragonfly Trilogy.

 

What would be your dream vacation? I would love to tour Nagasaki, Japan, the setting for Dragonfly Wings. When I lived in Japan, I didn’t make it there.

 

How do you choose your settings for each book? My great-great-uncle was the first American consul in Nagasaki, so I’ve been interested in the city for a long time. Dragonfly Wings is a work of fiction, but the protagonist in the story does happen to be the American consul in Nagasaki. The three books in the series follow the protagonists’ quests in the same location.

 

If you could spend an evening with one person who is currently alive, who would it be and why? I’d like to spend the evening with the U.S. President and hear about his life. I’d also like to share the reality of God’s transforming power with him. The President can do a great deal of good or harm.

 

What are your hobbies, besides writing and reading? I like to work the commuter crossword puzzles in the Dallas Morning News and play the Nertz card game and board games with my family.

 

What is your most difficult writing obstacle, and how do you overcome it? I tend to think abstractly, so in order to describe settings, people, and actions with physical details, I have to research places in depth, ask more observant people to describe a situation, and take time to stop and imagine what is happening step by step.

 

What advice would you give to a beginning author? I’d urge the author to join a critique group and take time to read books about the writing craft. I wrote my first draft of Dragonfly Wings thirty years ago and much later found out that I didn’t know the first thing about writing fiction. Each time I learned what I’d done wrong, I had to revise and revise and revise pages and pages.

 

Tell us about the featured book. Sumi, a samurai’s daughter living in nineteenth-century Japan, is thrilled when her city finally opens up to the outside world after centuries of isolation. Her traditionalist grandfather, however, believes the foreigners are barbarians. Sumi is torn between her duty to obey and the lure of an expanding horizon almost within her grasp. Her exposures to the Christian faith increase her eagerness to find answers to life’s most foundational questions

 

The new American consul’s bravery and chivalry immediately impress Sumi as she ventures forth. Neither Sumi nor the consul foresees the threats inherent in their budding mutual attraction.

 

Please give us the first page of the book.

July 1859 (Year of the Sheep), Nagasaki, Japan

Taguchi Sumi took a closer look at the charcoal bucket for the brazier in her home’s main room. A wadded paper lay half buried as though intentionally concealed. She plucked it out and uncurled the tight ball, careful to keep the black dust from dirtying the tatami floor’s spotless straw mats. 

Her breath caught. Words written in the squiggly English alphabet as well as in Japanese filled the page. Tingling with excitement, she tore through the Japanese translation. 

English lessons. Taught by Americans. One class for young men. Another for young ladies. Unbelievable! Nothing on earth could be more wonderful. Nothing. 

Two afternoons each week. Even once a week would have thrilled her. 

Third house from the Oura River Bridge in the new international sector. She could walk there in an hour. 

Three weeks had passed since the Westerners’ arrival, cracking open her country’s two-hundred-fifty years of isolation, and she hadn’t glimpsed a single foreigner after that first day. But with these classes, she would meet Americans twice a week, maybe even the amazing United States consul himself. She had to comport herself with the dignity required for a samurai’s daughter. But inside her, fireworks exploded.

 

How can readers find you on the Internet?

Please visit my website: https://elizabethannboyles.com.

Also I have an author page at www.facebook.com/elizabethannboyles

 

Thank you, ELizabeth, for once again sharing your new book with my blog readers and me. I have found your books to be fascinating reading.

 

Readers, here are links to the book.

https://amzn.to/399yewk

https://amzn.to/371CNpJ

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