Sunday - Talking About My Books - Melodic Dreams #MFRWauthor #BooksWeLoveAuthor

As usual, the heroine Maria was born under the sign of Cancer. She arrives in Fern Lake with her nephew. His mother died at his birth and she has been looking for the child's father, All she knew was his first name until she was sorting through papers in the attic after her mother's death. She finds the name of her nephew's father. Having just finished her studies to become an Occupational Therapist, she hears about an opening in Fern Lake the town where Jay lives. She applies and accepts the job. Her move is a stealthy one, not wanting her greedy brother to know where she has gone and where the child's father lives.

Jay is a music composer born under the sign of Taurus. When his wife left and her threat to abort the child he wanted, he goes into a downspin. He searched for her. but found no trace. For several years he didn't touch the piano or do any composing. The detective he hired discovered his wife's death in a car accident but there was no mention of a child. He finally straightens himself out and starts to compose again. Then a woman and a child appear on his doorstep. She claims the boy is his son. The child does look like his ex-wife but also like Maria. Then he sees the boy's green eyes that are so like his.

Will Jay accept this child and learn to love him? Will he allow the attraction to Maria die because of her dead sister. For Maria, has she hidden from her brother or will he come to make trouble?

Sunday - Talking About My Books #MFRWauthor

Today, I'll say a bit about Lines of Fire and how the story began. With a fragmented dream that woke me with a vision of a man with thin red lines over his body. They were lines of fire. I sat down and jotted all the fragments I could remember. I knew somehow he was in danger and that he needed to find a mate or the members of some kind of guardian group would remove his ability to sue the lines.

Questions followed. What did the lines mean? How were they used? Why could some of the members of the group sense and read these lines and some were oblivious? Was there something magical about these groups?

Somehow while just tossing the ideas around, I found there were other groups affiliated with the guardians. Some were Healers and some were Artisans. Just what did they have to do with the hero.  One day I began to put all this together and it looked like a ball of yarn that had a dozen ends. I continued messing with this strange new world as I worked on other stories.

Then came the day when suddenly all the ends led to a number of paths and I knew which ones to take. Alric became the hero and I saw him with his father who had been driven out and his powers removed. He was dying and sent his son to be tested and to unravel the mystery of the lines of fire. I also learned he had a younger brother and sister who had vanished from the Guild House? One day their stories will be told. I know the title for the second book Tainted Lines and features the heroine of this book's brother and Alric's sister. His lines have been magically tainted by an unknown enemy who has tainted members of the guild before.

Talking About My Books - Toth's Priest #MFRWauthor

Toth's Priest is the final book in the trilogy of Ancient Alternate Egypt. In the first book Namose the hero of this book is kidnapped by the evil priest of Aken Re. Since he has some slight knowledge of the ancient language of the Two Lands, the priest believes Namose can give him the powers possessed by some of the priests of Toth. Some of the priests are merely scribes but others have talents to use the elements. The evil priest has stolen scrolls that define these powers. Namose is under threat of death and he does give the man some of the powers. Some he has mistranslated not on purpose but because he doesn't know the words.

Amara is from out world and she must escape the nephew of the drug lord who murdered Tira sister and who would have killed Seth. Seth has given her the notice that will help her escape. Her abilities to use unarmed combat allows her to escape and meet the elderly women. She arrives in the Two Lands at the main temple of the priests of Toth and undergoes training. She has the ability to use some of the powers but only two, earth and water.

Her quest is to find Namose and to help him escape along with the scrolls. Their uniting allows they to return to the temple for more training but the adventure isn't over. All builds until they realize they must confront the evil priest. The book is filled with magic and action. This story was fun to write and brings the characters from the other two books together.

Sunday - Talking About My Books - Horu's Chosen #MFRWauthor

Since I was firmly established in my alternate Egypt, when I came to write the second book, I knew the hero would be the one who would travel from the present world to the alternate one. Where would I find this hero. Then when reading over the first book, I found him. He was an undercover cop posing as a homeless man. He was the one to warn the heroine of the first book not to go home. When I wrote the first book, I needed someone to warn her and I chose this homeless man. But she saw something in his eyes. So Seth was born.

The second step was to decide why he wanted to escape his present life. He was alone. A foster kin but people who had turned him from an angry young man to a cop had died in an auto accident. So he had no ties, except a sort of friendship to the heroine of the third book. He felt like her older brother. The reason for Seth's decision to accept the old women's chance for life in another world took some thought. Then I realized he would be betrayed by his handler to the drug lord from the first book. This tied the stories together on another level.

The heroine of the second book, Merin, was the Daughter. While researching and reading a lot about ancient Egypt and the marriages that often occurred between half or even full siblings. I had the way to make her be in danger from the priests of Aken Re, especially the main villain. Whoever married Merin would become Pharaoh. Thus the adventure began with Seth being transported and being almost a slave though he was a man skilled in both armed and unarmed fighting. Merin has been taken by the bad guy and he has a husband for her. Her escape is necessary and so she and Seth come together for an adventure in the desert and have a quest they must fulfill.

Sunday's Talking About My Books - Bast's Warrior #MFRWauthor

Though the third of this trilogy, Toth's Priest has just come out, I'll talk about Bast's Warrior, the story that began it all. Here's the blurb.

Tira flees a threat to her life and encounters two elderly women who offer her the chance to be sent to an alternate ancient Egypt with no thought of return. She has had a fascination with Egypt and can even read hieroglyphics. Once there she will be given a task. Failure could mean death. Dare she take the chance and can she find the lost symbols of the rule before an enemy finds them?

Kashe, son of the nomarch of Mero is in rebellion. His father desires him to join the priesthood of Aken Re, a foreign god. He feels he belongs to Horu, god of warriors and justice. He decides to leave home, meets Tira and joins her in the search for the symbols of the rule. Will his aid bring good fortune and will their growing love keep them from making a fatal mistake?

I've been fascinated with Egypt for as long as I can remember. Probably happened when I read some children't book that I really can't remember. I have books and books about Egypt, even some that are translations of letters and other writings from several eras. What fascinated me were the days around the invasion of the Hyksos a mysterious group. At this time there were many men vieing to become pharaoh and the land was in turmoil. This was the period I decided to base the series.

After finishing the rough draft of the story that I thought was a time travel, I was flipping channels and saw something about camels. Since I wanted camels in the story I paused. Then the words came that said there were no camels in Egypt during the period I had chosen to fit my story. I got a little upset and then re-thought several things. First the people from the present would be traveling to an alternate sphere where the Egypt of the history had some changed, including camels. This necessitated other changes and among them was a slight change in the names of the towns. Also I decided instead of a multitude of gods my created Egypt would have only three Bast, Horu and Toth.

Bast's Warrior (An Alternate Egypt Book 1) by Janet Lane Walters   Learn more

Sunday - Talking about My Books - Pursuing Michael West MD

Michael West MD has a five year plan before he can consider making a commitment. He’s happy dating women who have no desire for a long-term affair. Encountering Zelda, the pest, the menace, the little girl next door who has impacted his life makes him want to run. She managed to ruin his senior prom and sent several of his dates running. Now she’s grown and the nurse manager of the surgical unit where he will see her every day. What’s a doctor to do but run?

Zelda has loved Michael for year. She knows of the odd accidents her presence has caused him. After an encounter in the condo swimming pool, the accidents become hers but she refuses to give up her quest. The problem is his dating system. He seems to be on an alphabetical quest. He’s just met G and she’s Z. Can she find a way to turn his thoughts to her or must she give up her pursuit?

Writing this story was a lot of fun, especially since it's a tongue in cheek nurse/doctor romance. One day the character of Michael came to me and I realized he was dating women in an alphabetic order. Suddenly I needed a heroine to suit him and Zelda was born.

Her first acquaintance with Michael was when she and her single mother moved into the house next door. Zelda leans over the fence between the backyards, falls, hits Michael who is holding a football that breaks a window in his parents' house. He is four years older and at this point girls aren't of interest. But Zelda continues to plague him through high school and even appears at his college.

Michael has a ton of student loans for college and medical school and a father whose idea is a man pays his debts before he does anything else. Michael is haunted by these debts and decides he won't get serious until they're paid off.

Zelda has other ideas and her own unique way of pursuing him. Check out the story and read the trials of Michael as he tries to avoid Zelda.  The real question is who will succumb to love first.

Sunday, Talking about My Books - Heart Throb by Janet Lane Walters

Magda Malone likes men and has no desire to marry. She’s been there, done that and got burned. She’s happy with her position as coordinator of the cardiac unit at the hospital. A new neighbor promises many nights of steamy sex. Damon also has no desire for marriage. He had too many steps as a child and sees marriage as a serial sort of game. He doesn’t want to play. When Magda learns he’s a cardiologist, she blows him off. The problem is Damon has fallen in love and he must convince Magda there’s more between them than sex.

When I began this story, I set myself to a challenge or two. Often in romance, there's the attraction and the relationship develops into love and then there's physical commitment. Here I wanted to see if I could bring this couple together who both had reasons to want to keep their relationship on just a physical level. They are attracted to each other. The other challenge I set myself was the age difference. She's an older woman. He's the younger man. Though the story was tricky to write, I managed and the thing was the hero had to be the one to tumble into love first and he's the one who has to persuade her to fall for him.

The story was a fun one to write and while steamy and a fast read, I consider this a very contemporary read. There are few of the buzz words found in erotic romance but there are the heated emotions and a happy ending. I'm all for happy endings.

Sunday, Talking About My Books Healwoman #MFRWauthor

Healwoman initially was supposed to be a far future of the book Mistress Of The Moons, and I imagine it still is but I'd decided on a completely different story to tell. The story would have been four books in one with four heroines plus the heroine of this book, Norna. She took on a life of her own and wanted her story to be told. Perhaps I will one day write the other four but they won't be in one book unless they're novellas and completely contained stories. Actually I like the hero and heroine of this book but I began to be interested in the villain and wondered if one day I will be able to redeem him. One never knows.

The heroine of Healwoman is misbegotten and seems to have no place when the story begins. She is given by her mother who refuses to acknowledge her to the temple, the last one where women rule, to be a drudge. Norna escapes and meets the hero but though they are attracted and aid each other time passes before they can get together.

In some ways this story is a romance without a happily ever after or even a happy for now. It's a book with perhaps one day there will be a happy ending once the god and goddess stop their battle for the love of the people and learn to live and rule jointly. Maybe another book or four will show this happening.

Shandor, the hero has his own battles to fight, with himself and with the way of the priests of Midran. His father is one of the high priests and he must constantly prove himself and also combat the villain who envies him. He loves Norna but will not confine her to his inner room as those women bound to the priests of Midran must be. He lets her go and the book ends with the knowledge she will bear his son.

Sunday - Talking About My Books - The Doctor's Dilemma #MFRWauthor #BooksWeLove

When I began to write The Doctor's Dilemma, I had in mind one thing and that was to write a circular story where the opening scene was reflected in the final scene. Then what became a blurb hit me. Take one foot-loos doctor, add a nurse who wants a settled life, add to a small Texas town and give him a set of infant twins he is left by a dying foster sister and you have the Doctor's Dilemma. The story was a fun one to write and I was able to use some of the memories I had of Texas where we lived for a few years ages ago.

The hero needed to have reasons why he never wanted to settle down and I gave him a foot-loose life with the longest he'd ever lived in one place was during his college years and medical school. As a foster child he bounced from family to family and the one person who he had connected with was his foster sister who gave birth to the twins. Moving and moving during his childhood set the pattern for his later life when he chose to be the kind of doctor who worked for an agency that sent him to various towns.

The heroine had the same kind of childhood but she was moved and moved from town to town by her parents who as artists moved nearly every year. She yearns for a settled home. Making friends and losing them troubled her and she wants a settled life.

The story was a fun one to write. The arrival of the twins forces the hero to look at his life and the absence of his housekeeper who will care for the children leaves him asking the nurse to remain until the woman returns. His growing attachment to the babies and to the nurse force him to look at his life. She is also forced to look at what she wants. Is a home a person or a place? Both need to look at their lives.

At one time I was going to write other stories about this town and the characters in the town but no stories came into myhead. Perhaps one day, there will be other stories.

Sunday - Talking About My Books - Gemstones by Janet Lane Walters #MFRWauthor #BooksWeLove

 Gemstones was written because I enjoy reading Regency era stories. The book was fun to write but in the writing, I learned one thing. Writing them was harder than I could ever imagine. I received some good reviews but I decided I would rather read than write them. The heroine was not raised like the average Regency heroine. She was raised by her father after her mother's death in India. Being curious, she goes about learning to read Sanskrit and reads many writings of India. An ancient sage teaches her and gives her advice. Her father, a gem merchant, dies and the heroine is forced to take her two younger sisters to England into a marriage she doesn't want. She wishes to return to India but her father's partner wants a sapphire he knows her father had procured. He also wants her and she has no desire for him. The most of the story takes place at the estate that was her grandfather's. He has no sons and the earldom goes to a distant relative. A marriage Nicola doesn't want has been arranged. The hero doesn't want the marriage either.

Writing this book, I learned a lot about gems and found this fascinating. I learned a lot about India, the Kuma Sutra and the early Englishmen who went as traders and about the gem trade. I was able to use my experience with Yoga when writing the book and I learned more about Regency England than I will ever use.

Here's the blurb When Nicola Gordon and her younger sisters travel from India to England, she goes to a marriage she doesn’t want.

Drew Barlow has no desire for marriage, but his distant cousin and Nicola’s grandfather, ran the estates into debt. Drew agrees to the marriage for the money and to please the Dowager, Nicola’s grandmother, but he has no trust for women or for love.

When the two meet they clash and come together, igniting a blazing attraction they cannot resist.

The buy link Gemstones  

Sunday - Talking About My books Moon Summoned #MFRWauthor #BooksWeLove

Initially I was going to write a trilogy but found that I needed to wind the story of these three women together. The story began with a dream, a newspaper article and my love of medicine. This story uses part of a myth about the three stages of a woman, the young woman cast here as a warrior, the mother figure who is a healer and the crone who became the seeker of justice.

The dream was of an old woman who had been a patient and her husband had just died. They'd been married for 60 years, had no children and she mentioned how she wanted to die. The article was about a gymnast who nearly became a wheelchair person after a fall. And the medicine goes back to my nursing.

The story unwound from there and developed until bringing the three heroes, three heroines and three villains together for a magical battle that rather exhausted me to write. Writing action usually does that to me. But writing fantasy was fun for me. I've read fantasy for years and enjoy putting my won twist when I develop my worlds. Building worlds is fun.


Three Moon Summoned women. Ashiera the Seer who controls the winds and sees into the thoughts of others. Dian the Warrior who controls fire and fights with the sword. Egeria the Healer who controls fluids and heals those who are injured. They are joined in their battle by Sieper a sailor who knows the winds, Kobe once sworn to the Lord of Shadows and Jetan a healer of animals. These three vow to help the three women against those sworn to Evil.
Lugal the Cabal reads the winds and thoughts. Sargon the Gladius controls fire and the armies of the Lord of Shadow. Lugal the Cabal has knowledge of herbs and uses them for evil. These three with their cohorts will face the three and three sworn to the Mistress of the Moons.

If you want to read more about how three dying women are summoned by the moon and are given new life, shared and integrated by three women of a world beyond time and space.

Moon Summoned