Shannon here: Inspirational author, Raquel Byrnes shares her inspiration for her latest Steampunk Romance, Tremblers. Click on the link at the end of the post to enter the goodreads drawing for a free copy. Comment or answer the question at the end of the post to enter last Tuesday’s drawing. Deadline: Jan 31st for Goodreads. Jan 27th, 11:59 pm central time for this blog. Here’s Raquel:
As an author, I often find myself scouting for book locations while on vacation in real life. A trip to visit my brother in Seattle sparked one of my first romantic suspense novels. I think it was the stormy sky and all that flannel that opened up the idea of a city being part of the emotional journey for the main character. The scent, the light, the hum of a place that isn’t your home can really be exciting and just the thing to spark some romance.
An old abandoned building with its shifting shadows could make for an intriguing meeting place. Perhaps the cute cabin on our family hike would be ideal for my sweet proposal scene. The zoo was fun. I am well prepared for a lion escape.
Locations can be a major force in storytelling. From windswept cliffs and creepy mansions in a Gothic romance to the sunlit hills that soothe the soul of a returning heartbreaker. I’m always on the lookout for unique places to spark that romance.
My husband is good at this. He’ll point out an especially strange buildings or unsettling dark alleys and ask me what I would do to cause havoc there. He knows me so well. Often my stories of romance come at an edge-of-your-seat pace. And maybe a few explosions.
For my upcoming series, I faced a new challenge with regard to location. My steampunk romance, The Tremblers, is set in alternative history. Victorian America after a calamitous event that nearly leveled the country. So the set pieces of my romance needed to be both beautiful and haunting. There had to be echoes of what was lost and a hope for what was to come. A lot like the relationship between my hero and heroine.
The most romantic places in The Tremblers are also the most dangerous. Outer City, the boomtown in the clouds boasts romantic vistas of the entire fragile land. The sky boardwalk and floating markets with blimps and dirigibles in bright colors is a sight to see while sipping from a glass with your swashbuckling sweetheart.
I know that the massive electric Tesla domes protecting the cities sparkle purple at dusk against a pink sky, but I would love to cuddle with my husband atop a floating platform and see it for real. However, I think it is the stark beauty of the wasteland desert where multicolored flames lick against a crimson horizon that is the most romantic place.
Whether you are on your own front lawn or sailing on an aero ship, one can find romance in unexpected places.
Author Bio: Raquel Byrnes writes across several genres including YA Steampunk, Fantasy, and Gothic Mystery. Critically acclaimed for her edge-of-your-seat stories with complex characters and heart pounding thrills, she is always looking for another adventure in which to partake. When she’s not writing she can be seen geeking out over sci-fi movies, reading anything she can get her hands on, and having arguments about the television series Firefly in coffee shops. She lives in Southern California with her husband, six kids, and various reptiles. Learn more and connect:
Raquel’s Twitter Raquel’s Blog Raquel’s Author Site
About the book – Tremblers:
Charlotte Blackburn—Beautiful, intelligent, a gifted tinkerer—lives in a cloistered world of wealth and privilege beneath the Electric Tesla Dome that shields survivors of The Great Calamity. But when her father is abducted, and a strange sickness starts transforming men into vicious monsters, she discovers that technology is no protection at all.
Ashton Wells has a dire mission: Secure Colonel Blackburn and deliver his research to The Order of the Sword and Scroll. But the plan goes awry, and he is left with nothing but the colonel’s daughter who has a target on her back and is willing stop at nothing to rescue her father—including handing over to the enemy the only means to stop the monstrous plague.
Branded as traitors, Ashton and Charlotte brave the treacherous floating sky ports of Outer City to hunt down the elusive inventor, Nikola Tesla—the only person able to activate the strange device that harbors the secret to their salvation.
With the government closing in, a rebellion brewing in the streets, and terrifying Tremblers attacking the innocent, the two must work together to stop their fragile world from crumbling once more into destruction.
Giveaway Link: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/enter_choose_address/262317-the-tremblers
Question for Readers: Where is your favorite setting for books? Have you visited there through a book or in real life?
Come back Jan 23rd for Pat Nichols!
Visit through a book! Ireland is my dream vacation/setting