Guest Post and Giveaway from Author Janine McCaw
Note: To enter to win an e-copy of Helens of Troy, fill out the brief form at the bottom of the post.
Where the hell did the Helens come from?
I can pinpoint the exact time I got the inspiration to write my first book, Olivia’s Mine. I was walking up the wooden steps of what was then the gift shop of the British Columbia Museum of Mining, having just taken a tour through the copper-rich side of Jane Mountain, a land formation that once was a major source of North America’s copper supply. I remember thinking how strange it was that thousands of people once lived a community that was now home to a handful at best. I had driven past the Britannia Beach signpost several times on my way from Vancouver to Whistler, but I never took the time to stop and hear the story of the old, worn down mine at the side of the road. I never knew that one night, the entire lower town was flooded out into Howe Sound because of a poorly constructed dam. As I continued up the steps, a voice inside my head said to me, you should really try to tell this story. Because it was based on fact it was a little different to structure than most stories. I already knew the end, so I had to plot it backwards to find the middle and eventually a beginning.
With my second novel, Helens-of-Troy, it was the complete opposite. I have no idea why I was thinking about the Helen of Troy we all know, the one with the Trojan horse, but for some reason the title appealed to me and stuck with me for a while. I didn’t want to write another historical novel at the time, I wanted something that allowed a little more creative freedom. So I got to thinking, what if there was more than one Helen…and what if they were kick-ass demon fighters? I mean, the original H-O-T, she was a bit of a superhero for her time, wasn’t she?
So I decided these Helens would live in a small town called Troy. Pretty much a no-brainer there. But who were they? Why were they different than everybody else? What battle did they have to fight, and how exactly would they do it? To tell you the truth, I didn’t really know when I started to write their story. But one by one the Helens began to come to life, first Helena the matriarch of the family, and then Helen and Ellie. I decided to make the eldest and the youngest the polar opposite of the one in the middle, which allows for a lot of conflict.
Yes, I decided that there would be a vampire in this first novel. But he wasn’t going to be a warm and fuzzy kind of vampire. He was going to be a nasty soul. But the story isn’t so much about the vampire as the relationships between mothers and daughters, what makes their relationships so emotional? I threw in a group of slightly misguided teenagers for added fun, and the Helens began to plot themselves. I had to reel them in from time to time. They’re talkers, the Helens.
I hope you get a chance to read the book sometime. Maybe you’ll see some of your own family in them. If at the end of the day you smile and think, that was a good little story, then the Helens would be very pleased, and so would I. Thanks for spending a few moments of your day with us.
Helens-of-Troy
By Janine McCaw
Genre: Fantasy/Supernatural
“The Gilmore Girls meet Buffy the Vampire Slayer”
Fifteen year old Goth-chic Ellie has a lot of explaining to do. She’s just moved to the small town of Troy, fought with her uptight mother Helen, met the boy of her dreams and found a dead body on her sexy “new-age” grandmother Helena’s porch. All on the first night!
But Ellie’s not alone. Helen is hiding something. Helen knows all about the kind of eerie dreams her daughter is having — the dreams that show the whereabouts of the missing children of Troy — because she’s had them herself. But she’ll never admit it. Not while Ellie’s sex-crazed friend Ryan is safely behind bars for the murders. Helen knows what it’s like to be attracted to dangerous men.
Then there’s the little matter between Helena and Gaspar BonVillaine, the teenaged vampire who is learning to feed on young prey. Now that he’s caught Ellie, he doesn’t know whether he wants to kill her or turn her to the dark side and keep her forever. Helena should have finished him off when she had the chance.
To survive the vampire feeding frenzy surrounding them, mom Helen needs to come to terms with her own insecurities and deal with the gifts she has. Helena must learn to ground herself for the good of mankind and more importantly her own family. And Ellie has the toughest choice of all. Ellie must decide whether its time to let her own childhood go and become the woman she is destined to be, one of the ageless and timeless “Helens of Troy.”
Author Janine McCaw (Olivia’s Mine, 2006,) has written this 100,000 word novel, the first in a fantasy series about “the Helens.” The three generations of gatekeepers will take the reader on a trip to a realm mere mortals fear to visit alone, and they’ll make her want to stay a while.
About the Author:
Helens-of-Troy is the second novel completed by Janine McCaw. For the Vancouver-based novelist it is the continuation of a dream, and the fruit of years of working in a different creative realm.
McCaw’s deep understanding of compelling plots, widely appealing characters, natural dialogue and strong story arcs comes directly out of her early career in the film and television industry. McCaw’s skills as an observer started early when her family uprooted from the City to small town Ontario – and she became the classic fish out of water. Writing down her thoughts became an outlet as she scribbled her way through childhood, while she also developed her observational skills and visual eye with photography. A die-hard hockey fan, McCaw studied Cinematography at Humber College, and was headed for a career as a cameraperson covering professional sports when she landed an internship in a broadcasting services company.
McCaw excelled in the television distribution arena. She joined Thomas Howe & Associates and moved with that company to Vancouver, where she distinguished herself with her talent for identifying the right product for the right market, and her people-skills in negotiating contracts. After furthering her professional development with several high-profile Canadian entertainment companies, she parlayed her reputation as a leading Cable Programming specialist into her own boutique firm. Formed with a partner, Dark Horse Ent. specialized in finding, and selling, niche Canadian television series – entertainment, information and variety – around the Globe. McCaw also acted as an independent executive producer on award-winning television Classic Car series, Chrome Dreams, and as a distributor for series including Entree to Asia and At Home With Herbs.
In high demand as an insightful, humorous and engaging guest speaker, juror and analyst for festivals and trade forums around the country, McCaw also spent large amounts of time traveling abroad to television markets. Writing relieved the stress of constantly being on the road. Increasingly, she turned her main hobby into outlines for novels, and finished fleshing out the characters, plot and dialogue for Olivia’s Mine, a fictional account of a young bride’s struggle to make a life for herself against the backdrop of the disasters that hit Britannia Beach, British Columbia in the early 1900s. The book was released in 2006 and continues to be sold at the British Columbia Museum of Mining.
Helens-of-Troy was released early in 2012. McCaw is also currently developing eight other stories for novel form. All set on the Pacific North West and in Canada’s North, they include the murder mystery A Little First Degree, a feel-good trilogy The Inn at Hazy Waters (Northern Exposure meets Fantasy Island), and Pumper, an action romance that has already garnered interest as the basis for a feature film.
To win an e-copy of Helens of Troy, fill out the form below and you’re entered!
Love in Bloom Giveaway
Welcome to the Love in Bloom Giveaway! This hop runs from May 18 to May 23. Thanks to I Am a Reader, Not a Writer and Portrait of a Book for hosting.
A quick addendum to the last giveaway. I realized (just a few days ago–I’m a little slow sometimes) that I accidentally sent out copies of Her Loving Husband’s Curse that were from an older and less perfectly edited than I would have liked edition. If you received a copy of HLHC for the last giveaway and found a few errors in it, please let me know and I’ll send you the spiffier version. My apologies. I was a little quick with my trigger finger that day.
For this giveaway I’ll be giving away five e-books (either Her Dear & Loving Husband or Her Loving Husband’s Curse–your choice). I also have three paperback copies of either HDLH or HLHC–your choice. If you’re not familiar with the stories, check here. There’s also a $10 gift certificate to either Amazon.com or BN.com (your choice) for one lucky winner.
You must be a follower of this blog to enter. You can gain extra entries with the following:
Following this blog +1
Follow me on Twitter +1
Like The Copperfield Review on Facebook +1
Friend me on Goodreads +1
Friend me on Facebook +1
The extra entry options are available on the right sidebar of this page. Then fill out the form below and you’re entered. Don’t forget to let me know if you’d prefer Her Dear & Loving Husband or Her Loving Husband’s Curse.
There are over 200 great websites involved in this hop. Check here to see what other wonderful items you can win.
An Interview With Author P.T. Dawkins
What books did you love as a child? Why?
I remember loving all of the Dr. Seuss books. I suspect it was because of the animations combined with the story.
Who are your favorite authors? How did they influence your writing?
I read a lot of John Grisham and Michael Connelly because it is their genre (modified somewhat) I am trying to emulate. My favorite book of all time is probably One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey because of the incredible imagery he creates just using words. I try to do that if I can.
When did you decide you wanted to be a writer? Why did you decide to write?
I knew I enjoyed writing as far back as high school. I am not sure I fit the standard definition of wanting to “be a writer” because it has never been a career. For me, writing has always been a means to an end. I used it extensively in my career in the investment industry. Having left that over four years ago, I have a wonderful opportunity to fulfill a dream – to write and publish fiction novels.
When do you find time to write?
I try to write every morning, even if it is just for 30 minutes.
What are the joys of writing for you?
I really love the challenge of seeing if I can make the reader form opinions about my characters on their own, without me “telling” them what to think. Same thing goes with depictions of scenes. Show, don’t tell.
What are the obstacles of writing? How do you overcome them?
Life sometimes gets in the way. I need to be in a very quiet environment without distractions to write something that I will like later. That’s not easy these days.
What is your favorite genre to read in? Write in? Why?
Thrillers. Anything with an uncertain outcome where there is something on the line. Maybe this is similar to my attraction to the investment industry? I love puzzles.
How would you describe your writing style? How did you develop it?
I am methodical. I learned in my writing courses at the U of Toronto that every scene and chapter needs to have seven elements (the “hook, inciting incident etc.”) Before I write the first word, I do an outline of all of my chapters, which includes specific details of each of the seven points. That is my road map and I follow it as I write (and sometimes change it as I go along.) So, in the novel I am working on now, outlined to have 70 chapters, there are 490 short paragraphs describing each part of the scene. I don’t know if I developed it – it’s just the way I am.
What was the inspiration for your book?
I have always liked reading legal thrillers and thought perhaps I could do the same thing with Wall Street and white collar crime as the background setting.
What were the challenges of writing your story? The joys?
There is a lot of terminology on Wall Street that people don’t understand. It was a challenge to put some of these things into layman’s terms. Like what does it mean to sell a stock “short.” (You’ll have to read my novel to find out!) I’ve had a number of people come up to me to say they learned a lot about the business, which wasn’t necessarily the objective but is still gratifying.
Do you do research for your writing? If so, how do you go about it?
Yes! If you can’t find information about something on the Internet, then it doesn’t exist.
Tell us about your book.
After David Heart’s father’s estate is squandered by bad advice, his mother faces eviction and his grandfather needs life-saving surgery. A seemingly-helpful family friend finds David a seat at a bucket-shop off-Wall Street firm with the promise that money flows like wine.
Naive and quickly recognized as an easy mark, David is plunged into the eat-what-you-kill world of a trading desk, where the analysts, salesmen and traders sit like pigs at a two-sided trough. Bullied by the cruel, abusive head trader known only as Blackie, David is relieved when Sandy Allen, a strikingly provocative street-smart saleswoman, comes to his aid. But, what David doesn’t realize is that hidden agendas are everywhere, and no one can be trusted.
Now the target of extortion, David must make an impossible choice: facilitate an insider-trading felony in exchange for the money his family desperately needs, or face the cruelty of his mentor-turned-predator who has framed David and promises that he alone will be found guilty and suffer the consequences of the crime he refused to commit.
What did you learn about yourself from writing this book?
Maybe not learned but reminded. Never give up. Keep trying different things and ways to reach your objective.
What do you wish someone had told you about writing that you learned the hard way?
There is a right way to write, for sure. Poor writing is just that. But there is also your own personal creative way. You have to find a balance.
What is your next project?
I am ¾ of the way through the first draft of my next novel. White collar crime thriller. I plan to write three novels and create a trilogy. One of the characters in my first novel, The Analyst, lives on and is part of the second book (and third?)
What are you reading now?
1Q84. I like reading things that differ from my writing style to see what I can learn. I just finished The Hunger Games trilogy but, to be honest, got bored half-way through the third book.
Anything else you’d like your readers to know?
I am really enjoying this writing part of my life. I realize that my career in the investment industry has enabled me to do this. Things happen for a reason.
The Analyst
By P.T. Dawkins
About the Author:
A 28-year veteran of the investment world, P.T. Dawkins writes from experience about the insatiable desire for money that leads to unethical, illegal and unscrupulous behavior. He majored in English at Dartmouth College, earned an MBA from The University of Western Ontario and completed extensive studies in Creative Writing at the University of Toronto.
Find and Follow P.T. Dawkins:
Buy the Book:
