Interview: Lara MacGregor – Giveaway

Long and Short Reviews welcomes Lara MacGregor. Check out the first book in her Descendants of Time series, Romeo vs. Juliet, which is only $0.99 at Amazon. Leave a comment or ask the author a question for a chance to win a copy of the book.

In Romeo Vs. Juliet, mundane things that are not normally addressed in time travel novels are addressed, sometimes in a humorous way.

Lara said, “In reality, if one could travel through time, there would be certain logistical problems, and as many time travels as I have read in different genres, they never talked about certain problems! My approach is sometimes a little sci-fi and sometimes more mystical as well. The novel stretches from the light-hearted to the serious, such as what happens on the other side of the veil? I love the juxtaposition of one era set against the other and the zaniness that can come about as a result.”

The second part of Romeo Vs. Juliet, The Questrist is out and available at Bookstrand. After a trip to the future (the sci-fi aspect of RvJ II) Josephine goes back to the past and warns Richard III about the battle of Bosworth. When Elizabethan England gets wiped off the map of history, Ambrose is really upset with Josephine and wants an annulment.

Lara is also working on parts three and four, among other things. Part three is set in 1920s New York and part four is set in the Old West.

She has also recently released a contemporary romance The Mask of Truth with the second part to soon be released. Check out this blurb:
A prince accused of murder is sent to America. He must prove his innocence and win his country’s throne to save his people from a tyrant. He longs to win his true love’s heart. If he fails, he will have to run for his life and could lose her forever.

In the second part of the book, War Between Brother Kings, King Goran, The Tyrant, resents his brother, Corentin, for winning his throne and wants revenge even though he is due to inherit another kingship. He gets creative. Corentin’s wife, loyal younger brother, and closest friends will be dragged into it. Relationships will be tested, and lives threatened as an evil king makes war with his honorable brother.

Lara first started writing when she was six, with poetry. She would set it in stacks on top of the piano. Later, she would continue with writing rock songs, then she finally began writing stories.

When she was younger, she wanted to be a rock singer/musician like her uncle, but that didn’t quite work out. She explained, “I’m so shy, when I was in a band, I turned my amp all the way down. Still, I hope to get into another band and face my fears because my heart demands it. Better late than never.”

She did have an embarrassing moment with her music and I asked her to share it with you all.

“One time I started a piano intro at a gig, but I was so stage-struck that my hands froze after a few measures. My heart was pounding. The room was dead silent. Everyone was staring. I wanted to run and hide, looking down at my cold, shaking hands. Suddenly, the band broke in, and my embarrassing screw-up came across as a dramatic pause in the song. It was awesome.”

In high school, she hung out in the smoking area (she’s long since quit smoking) and befriended anyone from any group.

“The athletes and cheerleaders avoided me because they didn’t understand the quiet, artsy girl in all black,” she shared. “I was very devout in my faith then but didn’t look it.”

I asked her about her writing space.

“I wish it were in Paris, but it’s my office/studio/dining room, a cramped little desk with books, a mini-globe, papers, pens, sticky notes, musical knickknacks, a cat or two, and of course…coffeeeeeeeee! And this is squeezed between my electric piano and guitars in my tiny apartment.”

“What’s the hardest part about writing for you?” I wondered.

“Not making enough so that it and music are the only things I have to do. But apart from that, having to cut “brilliant” (ha-ha) scenes because they don’t move the story forward or add to characterization.”

She admitted she’s never gotten a fan letter (feel free to post one on her Facebook page), but she has been told her writing is inventive.

“That’s amazing,” she told me, “because I also want to be an inventor. My dad worked for an invention marketing company when I was a kid, and the things I saw in his office astonished me. I’ve invented educational games but only have prototypes. The weirdest compliment I ever got as a musician was the time, after a show, when a guy walked up to the stage, looked at me intently as I held my guitar, and said, ‘You have nice hair.’ I broke out laughing and thanked him.”

“Say your publisher has offered to fly you anywhere in the world to do research on an upcoming book, where would you most likely want to go?”

“Paris, so I can practice the language I worked so hard to learn, Scotland to do historical research, and Italy, to enjoy great food while doing research. I could hop on over to England as well and hit those dusty archives! There are other places too. Why not travel the world if I could?”

Talking about research, a lot of her work is historical, so I asked her how she did her research.

“A bit differently than I did before getting a degree in history,” she admitted. “I’m now more cautious about trusting a single source. I cross-check and cross-check again with a variety of source types and authors. I no longer take one expert’s information as rock-solid proof of something having happened. The library and Amazon are two favorite go-to’s. The Internet has to be approached carefully. I also ask other people knowledgeable in certain areas for their advice. I used to be in critique groups and have made author friends from other countries who could verify things for me.”

Finally, as I asked, “What is a talent you wish you had, but don’t?”

“I wish I played the cello or the violin. I would love to incorporate those sounds into rock music. I also wish I spoke a dozen languages instead of just being rusty in a couple and knowing phrases in others. If I could spend a day with anyone from history, I would want to meet my great-grandmother from the Middle East. If it were possible, I’d ask her to go back in time and teach my father the rare language she spoke, so he could teach me.”

Time travel agent, Ambrose Radcliffe, works for Queen Elizabeth the First. In his off time, when he was not fighting battles on different historical battlefields, he searched across the centuries for his beloved Josephine, from ancient Greece and Cleopatra’s court to 1950s America and many other eras. He has finally found her.

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New time travel agent, Josephine Hastings Radcliffe, is determined to set things right, with the help of the bad-tempered time travel boss, but things do not look promising.

Later, Ambrose’s time-traveling activities are so troubling that Josephine is forced to stand up to him. She must chase him through the eras to stop his plan from coming to fruition. The problem is, every time they meet up, they fall into each other’s arms, unable to deny the feelings they have for each other. Still, she has her own mission and must complete it or die trying. Josephine is called to be a hero and discovers her darker side.

Enjoy an Excerpt:

Josephine…

From my apartment, I called up the stormy time door and stepped inside. The currents of swirling air blew my hair back. Recalling the coded message—which took me forever to decipher—I concentrated on the year 1965.

Across from me, a wavering spot stopped on one of the walls of the tunnel-like temporal hall. Big waves of zooming scenes from history and from the future circulated around the slowed-down vision. It reminded me of blood cells floating through an artery and bumping around a large foreign object.

I flew forward, as if I were dead and in the next world, and wiggled my feet in the air, smiling.

The number 1965 flashed before me in red across a four-by-three-foot section of the wall, pulsing in invitation. A force tugged at me, and I came up against the hall’s magnetic barrier.

An explosion cracked the air. I pressed my hands to my ears. “No!”

The drone left behind sent vibrations through my body as I catapulted through the gray mass before me.

Thump, splash! Sprawled out belly first, I coughed out mud then moaned, while sitting up and wiping the mire from my throbbing face. Cold rain pelted my skin, drawing shivers from me.

I turned and squinted, focusing first on a crowd of people. Oh my God, women in wide crinoline dresses, and men in frock coats. Gulping, I looked past them to the tall, thin man in black enthralling them with his words. President Lincoln. On a portico, the Capitol dome over his head. I gasped before swooning and splashing again in the mud at the Capitol grounds. Everything went black.

Ambrose…

Once kneeling before her headstone, Ambrose traced a finger over Josephine’s name. The shadow he cast over the stone deepened and spread, like huge gray wings stretching behind him. Horror at what he was facing raced up his spine, and everywhere, though he was a warrior, he tingled with fear. This did not feel like the celestial visitation he had been honored with when a lad of five. He scooted the baby seat against himself and held a protective hand above his daughter’s head, stiffening his spine in alert. He turned and squinted, surprised no one else was there. His scalp prickled as he tore his gaze side to side, looking for the dark presence, only to be met with eerie aloneness. His hand slid down his calf toward the dagger in his boot, though.

His next breath came out in a misty cloud before him. He shivered from the sudden cold, and an unseen presence tickled his nape with icy fingers. “What…do you want?” His stomach felt rock hard and his arms shaky. He glanced at his sleeping daughter, his heart pounding.

Determination set in. His jaw went tight. No one. No one would hurt his daughter.

Scraping sounds drew his attention down. Carved in the fresh dirt of Josephine’s grave now stood the words that weren’t there when he arrived: Help me.

He gasped. His mouth went dry. Would her Catholic soul go to a place even he, a Protestant, could not contemplate? Suicides, according to her faith, did not find peace on the other side. Quite the opposite.

His heart beat harder, hurting him with each throb. He closed his eyes, praying. He had a daughter to raise. How could he follow Josephine to that dark place and help her?

Knowing death reversals were forbidden, an idea came to him as he remembered his recent dream. He would do battle for her now if… He picked up his daughter’s baby chair and called up the time portal, stepping inside. After dropping off his little girl with Auntie Adele and Uncle Tyler, he approached his angry time boss, the portal keeper. They stood before the swirling gray temporal walls in the great Hall of the Centuries. Ambrose told him his idea to save Josephine’s soul or at least greatly speed up the process of her served time.

The foreboding Roman’s eyes widened. “Are you insane?”

Ambrose shuddered. Even the towering warrior before him, Ancient Rome’s fiercest gladiator, was shocked at his suggestion. “I have heard rumors, Lucius. I believe this can be done.”

About the Author: Lara MacGregor lives in Colorado. She has written flash fiction to full-length novels, mostly historical, but other genres as well such as paranormal, and especially time travel stories. She has a B.A. degree in Modern Languages with a minor in music and an M.A. degree in history. She plays guitar and piano and loves reading as many books as time will allow.