Echoes
By P J Roscoe
Bronwen Mortimer moves to a quiet village near Shrewsbury in Shropshire, England in the hope of starting a new life after suffering years of abuse, but the echoes of the land refuse to lie quietly and when Bronwen witnesses a horrific murder, she must face her past and win to have any chance of living in the present.
Moving between present day and 15th century England when Henry Tudor claimed the throne. There were many casualties of war, but some refuse to be forgotten.
Winner of best e-book in the Paris book festival 2013 and awarded an Honourable Mention in both the London and New England book awards 2014/2012
An interview with PJ Roscoe
What made you think about writing this book?
I first began ‘Echoes’ over seventeen years ago following the death of my son who died at birth. I was sitting alone in my kitchen not knowing how I was going to get through the day when I picked up a pencil and began doodling on a scrap bit of paper. Words formed and I went in search of more paper. By the end of the day I’d written a short paranormal story. Over the next few weeks it grew into a book that I titled ‘Ruined Echoes’ but over the years I shortened it and I think it works better for the story.
It was inevitable that I’d write something paranormal as it’s been a huge part of my life since I was a young child as I ‘played’ with a poltergeist! Thought it was normal and everyone had an invisible friend that could move stuff and slam doors! I was never frightened and as I grew I found that I could feel ghosts and spirits and over the years I have helped many. All of my stories at school were always in the supernatural genre, so I guess it was inevitable.
Who are some of your favorite authors and why?
My favourite authors are Barbara Erskine, Diana Gabaldon and lately I’ve found another wonderful author, Rachel Hore. A local bookshop gave a review of ‘Echoes’ that said ‘This book is perfect for Barbara Erskine fans as it captures both the supernatural and the historical elements perfectly and combines them together to create a story that will keep you turning the pages’.
I was blown away and contacted the bookshop to thank her and explained that I read Barbara Erskine, to which she laughed and said, “I can tell!” I love the combining the history and the paranormal elements in my stories as do all of my favourite authors. I find their books flow really well and are not too overly descriptive!
I like to keep some chance of imagination to step in and I find these authors give just enough. Diana Gabaldon has been with me for over twenty years since I first read ‘Cross Stitch’. I have read it over and over, usually every other year and now they have dramatised it – which was a very emotional time for me! Would they get the characters right? Yes they did!
I found Rachel Hore on Goodreads and we’ve become friends there. I read her book ‘A place of Secrets’ last month (February) and hated putting it down. Very similar to Barbara Erskine, but with just a glimmer of supernatural in this book, but a great mystery and the historical aspect was brilliant.
What are you working on now?
I have just finished working on a collection of faerie stories for 5-7 year olds that I wrote for my daughter many years ago and put them away until recently. Out of the thirteen written I’ve chosen four and together with an artist who works with nature and watercolour, we’ve just launched ‘Adventures of Faerie folk’ on Amazon. I will be putting together the next collection to come out later in the year.
I am also working on my third and fourth novels ‘Where Rivers Meet’ and ‘In-between Worlds’ though it is the latter that is winning my attention so I think that one will come out first. Both are paranormal/historical novels of course and I have recently finished the first draft of both.
‘In-between Worlds’ is set near Hadriens Wall Northumberland. A young woman, Emily Rogers has been found next to the headless corpse of a security guard. Bloodied and traumatised, Emily refuses to speak and is placed in a secure hospital until her guilt can be established. Meanwhile the only clue is the murder weapon, an ancient sword from the 6th century in perfect condition.
Dr Marian Griffiths is convinced Emily is hiding something and through hypnotic therapy a story begins to unravel of time travel back to the dark ages when a Roman commander named Artorius fought the Saxons and the legend of King Arthur was born, but that is impossible and yet, how did Emily get hold of the sword that experts say is both authentic and one of its kind?
Is Emily mad, or has she indeed been pulled back into the past?
I won’t tell you, you have to wait and see!
What do you like about writing paranormal?
I love writing about things that have been around all of my life, in fact, ghosts, poltergeists, spirits, past lives, time slips, Angels, faeries, demons, all of these paranormal occurrences have been with us since we began recording them and yet, it seems like we have barely come forward very far in understanding them.
People are becoming more spiritual, I see it more and more in my other work as a holistic therapist and in my healing groups that I put on. People are finally starting to connect to energy, to spirit, their own and others and sometimes it feels like science is like a petulant child as it defiantly tries to prove they are right and everyone else is just wishful thinking! When in fact, sometimes you just have to believe and go with your gut instincts as our ancestors did without question.
The paranormal is such a wide and wonderful array of energy and we are all connected to it, so for me it’s the genre I feel most happy with writing about. It’s like writing about an old friend! I do sometimes step out of my comfort zone and write short stories and articles about other stuff – generally
I keep my articles humourous and mainly write for ‘The News in Books’ website. But I have two stories in Anthologies. One is out now ‘Love Alters’ and is anthologies of true love stories, available on Amazon. I wrote about my true love ‘Martin’ and it’s titled ‘Inevitable Love’. My other short story is part of a collection of stories on time titled ‘Steps in Time’ due out later this year by Crimson Cloak publishing and my story it titled’ Time goes by ...’
What's the hardest thing about writing ?
Time! It is always against me and I just can’t type fast enough! I can only work when my daughter is at school as she has Autism and Dyspraxia so obviously when home, she has my full attention. I also work at a local spa and hold various healing workshops throughout the year, so my life is already busy but I try to find a few hours a day to do writing if I can stop myself from getting sucked into the hundreds of e-mails and FB messages I receive every day!
I’ve never had writer's block and so far my head is running ten to the dozen with idea for a few more books and faerie stories. My husband also came up with a fantastic idea for a book, which I think would make a fabulous film, so it’s something that’s ticking over in the back of my head. The hardest thing is also looking back at what I’ve written, switching off! I’m always thinking, researching, writing down scenes and idea’s for other stories but it’s my birthday on the 5th March so I’ve promised to be good and have a day off!!
Bio of P.J
Roscoe
Paula lives in
North Wales with her husband of twenty-one years, their daughter, three cats
and Sidney the dog. She is the award-winning author of ‘Echoes’ and ‘Freya’s
Child’ both are available on Amazon and local bookshops. Paula is a spiritual
lady who walks in nature every day, loves to dance and sing and explore
history. She is most happiest surrounded by beloved family and friends usually
with a glass of something! She lives by the quote written in the novel ‘Echoes’
“Live life,
never merely exist.”
Paula can be
found throughout the internet:
Twitter
@derwenna1
