The Seraphim’s Song by Barbara Casey

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Barbara Casey will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

The Seraphim’s Song

by Barbara Casey

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GENRE: Fiction/Mystery

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INTERVIEW:

What or who inspired you to start writing?

Like so many writers, I started writing at a very young age. I just loved creating stories. Many years later, I worked as Director of Public Relations at a co-educational college in North Carolina. While there I started editing the manuscripts of many of the professors who were writing books for publication. It was at that time that I decided to give myself a year to write a book I had been thinking about and find a publisher. Ten months later I received my first book contract for the book I had written and an option on my next book. I have been writing ever since.

How did you come up with ideas for your books?

This is something that can’t be forced. I have always been a “people watcher” and observer of life. I think being a military brat and moving around so much gave a perspective on things that added to my natural creativity. The ideas can come from a line of poetry or a person of interest in the grocery store.

What expertise did you bring to your writing?

I majored in English and history, and minored in music and art history at the university where I attended because these were the things I was most interested in. There is no question that these studies have contributed to what I write.

In the F.I.G. Mysteries, Carolina and the F.I.G.s go to different parts of the world in order to discover who their biological parents were, why they are so different and to learn why they were placed at Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women. As they find more answers, the challenges they face become greater and more difficult. The answers they seek move from the personal to the universal. There is a reason why Dara, Mackenzie, and Jennifer are geniuses, why they have extraordinary abilities in understanding all foreign, obscure, and ancient languages – in Dara’s case; advanced math and problem-solving – in Mackenzie’s case; and music and art – in Jennifer’s case.

As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?

The Seraphim’s Song – Book 5, The F.I.G. Mysteries – has just been released. I have two adult novels and two young adult novels scheduled for publication by another publisher between June of this year and January of next year, so I will be quite busy marketing. The F.I.G.s really hold a special place in my heart, however, and I plan to start on Book 6 after this tour.

If you could be one of the characters from any of your books, who would it be and why?

By nature I am a nurturer, so I think I would be Carolina. Dara, Mackenzie, and Jennifer are just so exceptional. Being so, however, makes them “weird” in the eyes of the other orphans at Wood Rose. They will never fit in and belong because they are so different. Carolina is the grounding for them that they need. Even though she has her own peculiarities as the daughter of a choovihini or gypsy wisewoman, she is able to give them balance and a sense of normalcy in their crazy lives.

When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?

When I first wrote The Cadence of Gypsies, Book 1 in The F.I.G. Mysteries, it was to be a stand-alone novel. My publisher loved it so much she asked if I would be willing to expand it into a series. I am so glad she did, because the F.I.G.s definitely had more to say. When I submitted it, I already had ten other books published. So I pretty much knew it was ready to be submitted.

Do you outline your books or just start writing?

It doesn’t seem to matter if it is a novel or a nonfiction book I am writing, my process is the same. After I decide on the themes in a novel, or the subject in the case of nonfiction, I spend a lot of time deciding on how I want the book to start and end, and what key things I want to include along the way – sort of like road signs to keep me on track. Once I have these things fixed in my mind or on paper, I am then ready to start writing.

Do you have any hobbies and does the knowledge you’ve gained from these carry over into your characters or the plot of your books?

In addition to my writing, I run the Barbara Casey Agency which I started in 1995 representing authors all over the United States, Great Britain, and Japan. Also, I am a partner with Strategic Media Books. So my free time is limited, but I love puttering around in my flower gardens. It is relaxing to me, it gives me instant gratification, and it is amazing how much constructive thinking I can do on whatever book I am writing while digging in the dirt.

Can you tell us a little about the black moment in your book?

Each book in The F.I.G. Mysteries has its “black moment” and a challenge Carolina and the F.I.G.s must overcome. In The Seraphim’s Song, the world is facing all sorts of natural disasters because Milosh, the gypsy who placed a curse on Carolina, has discovered a “key” in a cave where he is working with some archaeologists. The key opens the portal between this world and the universe, but it isn’t time; mankind isn’t ready to receive that knowledge. Carolina and the F.I.G.s must return the key to the cave, and in doing so, they are almost killed. Below is the scene where they barely escape a cave-in only to realize Jennifer is missing.

BLURB

Startled by the sudden loud rumble and seeing the thick yellow dust spew from the mouth of the cave, Li Lee quickly got out of the car and rushed toward the noise of falling rocks just as Carolina and the F.I.G.s and Dr. Stanwick exited out of the yellow cloud of darkness and into the bright sunshine. From a safe distance, they watched in stunned silence as huge boulders, uprooted shrubs, small trees, and chunks of yellow clay fell from the outcropping and cliffs above, completely sealing the entrance. Any visible evidence that there was a jinzhi decave or ever had been was gone—destroyed. All that remained was the thick yellow dust slowly rising and dissipating into the air.

“Jennifer!” Dara looked around. “Where’s Jennifer?” Dara yelled, moving toward the cave. “Oh, no! Jennifer!”

With everything happening, they hadn’t noticed that Jennifer wasn’t with them. Running back to the cave’s entrance, horrified, Carolina, Dara, and Mackenzie screamed for Jennifer as they clawed and heaved and pushed at the heavy stones in desperation, trying to move them out of the way, trying to get back into the cave—trying to save the female of intellectual genius. Knowing it was futile, Dr. Stanwick fell to the ground, gasping for breath and overcome with emotion. Li Lee knelt beside him, his heart breaking over the tragic hopelessness of it all, knowing there was absolutely nothing they could do.

BLURB:

Book 5 – The F.I.G. Mysteries

Many changes have taken place at Wood Rose Orphanage and Academy for Young Women while Carolina and Larry were on their honeymoon in Frascati, Italy, on the Granchelli farm. The newlyweds have been given a larger bungalow; Ms. Alcott, niece of the founder of Wood Rose, and Mrs. Ball, assistant to the headmaster, have moved into a bungalow together; and Jimmy Bob, caretaker and night watchman at Wood Rose has moved from his family home down the road a bit into a small bungalow on the orphanage property with his hound dog Tick, as well as his new cat and her litter of kittens. Most important, thanks to the persuasive powers of Ms. Alcott and Mrs. Ball, the F.I.G.s have been given a forever home at Wood Rose.

Summer is coming to an end and the F.I.G.s will soon return to the universities to complete their special projects. They are starting to feel anxious, and the coping mechanisms they have used their entire lives are starting to work overtime. Dara’s thoughts turn to an unknown language, possibly from another world; Mackenzie focuses on the relationship of math to music; and Jennifer keeps hearing the note of B flat minor and is drawing dark swirls on her canvas board.

Deadly forces and natural disasters are unleashed into the world when Milosh, the evil young man who placed a curse on Carolina when she searched for her mother, steals an ancient artifact—a “key”—from an archaeological site near Puli, China on the Yellow Sea where he is working. This artifact, when paired with a certain note—B flat minor known as the Seraphim’s song—opens a portal that enables man to communicate with the gods.

When the key gets lost in a storm, Carolina comes into possession of it through Jimmy Bob’s dog, Tick, and when she does, she hears Lyuba, her gypsy mother, tell her that time is running out. The F.I.G.s and Carolina must go to the forbidden cave on the Yellow Sea, the place where the early gypsies are believed to have settled before travelling into Europe. For it is there where the key must be returned before all is destroyed.

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EXCERPT:

As she usually did in the early, pre-dawn hours, Lyuba was digging roots, in the dark of the crescent moon, and every so often replanting a good piece of a root to grow next year.  The day before she had picked herbs, during that time when the essential oils are at their strongest, before they could get evaporated by the midday sun.  Where she searched was her favorite place, the place where the energies were strongest. Surprisingly, it was the old church graveyard built on a slight mound just outside of the rural Italian village of Frascati, which is why the other gypsy women stayed away.  Unlike Lyuba, they feared being so near the dead. They believed that being near death would hasten their own, therefore they refused to go there. Lyuba, however, saw death as the natural and necessary progression of life, in another form, in a different dimension. She found comfort and solace in its nearness.

A creek ran nearby, and a tall, unkempt yew tree grew near the entrance to the graveyard, poisonous, but giving off positive energies.  It was a place Lyuba knew well, having discovered it from earlier times when the travelers came this way. It was there where she found peace.

She would prepare her potions from the roots, bark, and hard seeds she gathered and make decoctions by soaking them overnight and boiling them the next day.  Some of the decoctions she would add honey or sugar to; others she would thicken into syrup or add lard to make ointments and salves.  The freshest herbs she saved for her oils.

Once her potions were ready, she would take them into the village to sell.  Coughs or colds, rheumatism, cuts and bruises, burns—it didn’t matter.  She knew what remedy was necessary to relieve pain, create lustrous hair, revive the impotent, whiten teeth, cure constipation, or simply heal the broken spirit.  Unlike others who only pretended, she had the gift.

As she scraped pieces of root and bark, and gently picked the seeds from the plants she revered, she suddenly paused, aware of something different in the air around her—an unseen potent force. She stood up and, closing her eyes, listened quietly as she sniffed the air. There was an unfamiliar strangeness surrounding her. She felt the slight tremor of the earth and somewhere very far away, she heard the low-pitched hum.

It was a sound she knew well for it had been given to every civilization from the beginning of time. Used in all of the major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, Zoroastrianism and Christianity—it was the sacred universal sound.  A single sustained note, a mantra, it was the melody of the angel that acted as the means of communication between the gods in the heavens and the humans on earth. It was the seraphim’s song.

But something was wrong; the single note was slightly off-key. The pitch wasn’t quite right. Then, because she was a choovihni and had the knowledge of the universe coursing through her veins, a cosmic consciousness that had been passed down to her from her mother, her grandmother, and her great grandmothers through all time, she sensed darkness and evil.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Originally from Carrollton, Illinois, author/agent/publisher Barbara Casey attended the University of North Carolina, N.C. State University, and N.C. Wesleyan College where she received a BA degree, summa cum laude, with a double major in English and history.  In 1978 she left her position as Director of Public Relations and Vice President of Development at North Carolina Wesleyan College to write full time and develop her own manuscript evaluation and editorial service.  In 1995 she established the Barbara Casey Agency and since that time has represented authors from the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Japan. In 2014, she became a partner with Strategic Media Books, an independent nonfiction publisher of true crime, where she oversees acquisitions, day-to-day operations, and book production.

Barbara has written over a dozen award-winning books of fiction and nonfiction for both young adults and adults. The awards include the National Association of University Women Literary Award, the Sir Walter Raleigh Literary Award, the Independent Publisher Book Award, the Dana Award for Outstanding Novel, the IP Best Book for Regional Fiction, among others. Several of her books have been optioned for major films and television.

Her award-winning articles, short stories, and poetry for adults have appeared in both national and international publications including the North Carolina Christian Advocate Magazine, The New East Magazine, the Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer, the Rocky Mount (N.C.) Sunday Telegram, Dog Fancy, ByLine, The Christian Record, Skirt! Magazine, and True Story.  A thirty-minute television special which Barbara wrote and coordinated was broadcast on WRAL, Channel 5, in Raleigh, North Carolina.  She also received special recognition for her editorial work on the English translations of Albanian children’s stories. Her award-winning science fiction short stories for adults are featured in The Cosmic Unicorn and CrossTime science fiction anthologies.  Barbara’s essays and other works appear in The Chrysalis Reader, the international literary journal of the Swedenborg Foundation, 221 One-Minute Monologues from Literature (Smith and Kraus Publishers), and A Cup of Comfort (Adams Media Corporation).

Barbara is a former director of BookFest of the Palm Beaches, Florida, where she served as guest author and panelist.  She has served as judge for the Pathfinder Literary Awards in Palm Beach and Martin Counties, Florida, and was the Florida Regional Advisor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators from 1991 through 2003.  In 2018 Barbara received the prestigious Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award and Top Professional Award for her extensive experience and notable accomplishments in the field of publishing and other areas. She makes her home on the top of a mountain in northwest Georgia with three cats who adopted her, Homer – a Southern coon cat, Reese – a black cat, and Earl Gray – a gray cat and Reese’s best friend.

www.barbaracaseyauthor.com

www.barbaracaseyagency.com

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Barbara Casey will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

RAFFLECOPTER:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f4197