What made you decide to start writing? What was your personal “kick-off”?
Really, for me this was: when did I start writing again? I wrote when I was younger, but put it all aside when I went to university to study biology and later begin a career in science. I felt there was something missing from my life in my late twenties. After a very lucid dream where I saw a Roman slave and a Roman general entwined together, I picked up my pen and words began to flow. Seven years later, I had my first publication, and the Roman scene is in a novel I’m currently working on.
Tetley’s or PG Tips?
Twinnings! I no longer live in the UK, so when it came to hunting down tea, I discovered that the Swiss blends aren’t as strong as their British equivalents. I must have got used to it because when a friend brought over a box of teabags from the UK it tasted like gunpowder. So I am now the proud owner of a cupboard full of Twinning teas of different types and flavours, and a few exciting Swiss ones as well. Who’d have thought it, a British ex-pat with a thing for tea?
What are some of your plans for future books, plot lines etc…
I have two novels in the editing stages. One, Forever Hold His Peace, is the final installment of my Elizabethan historical romance series, and I enjoyed delving into the world Tudor witchcraft, funeral customs and capital punishment. The other one, Idolatry, is the sequel to my fantasy novel Servitude, in which my hero has to cope with a cult that thinks he’s their god, and a race through the dimensions to avoid a death sentence. There are others in the pipeline including a contemporary fun novel based around amateur dramatics, and a sci-fi set on Earth, involving a civil servant from the UK government department for helping aliens settle on Earth – think Men in Black with less guns, more sex and tea and biscuits.
The magic of the Sawyer family’s extremely green thumbs comes straight from the land. But Bobby Sawyer’s expected superpowers don’t become a reality until he kisses his best friend, Mike Flint. That kiss moves the earth—literally.
When Bobby moves to the city, leaving Mike behind, Bobby keeps his green thumb nimble by working in a garden center and uses his superpowers to help fight crime. He’s on a mission when a bomb explodes, leaving him seriously injured, forcing him to return to the family farm—the source of his strength—to recuperate.
While attempting to recover, Bobby realizes Mike is still the love of his life. But Mike is leery: Bobby left him once before. What if all Bobby needs is one more magical kiss?
Short Excerpt from Land in the Land
Bobby let himself be pulled toward the trunk, the roots curling around his body in a firm embrace. Nestled next to the tree trunk, he swore he could hear drumming from its core. He laid his head against the bark and closed his eyes.
Every cell of the tree thrummed with the same pulse. Behind his eyelids, Bobby could see the microscopic world inside the tree. Layer upon layer of water-laden cells made up the trunk’s innards, all jostled together as a noisy factory of life. His mind climbed the trunk and followed the path as it diverged to the left and ran across the branches. The way ahead narrowed, and he arrived into an explosion of green, the leaves humming happily. Tiny explosions fizzed and crackled as the chloroplasts trilled and sang, busy converting water into energy using the meager rays of the weak morning sun. It was beautiful. He could barely breathe as he watched, mute in amazement.
The tree’s roots began to loosen their grip, and his eyelids fluttered open.
The world before him looked fresh and new. Every detail was vivid and clear, from the petals on the drooping dandelions to the spikes of the hawthorn hedges. His long fingers wormed their way into the soil that the oak’s roots had disrupted. Bobby could taste the goodness, the nitrates and the minerals tripping over his tongue. The tightness that had sat in his chest for weeks began to unwind, and a warmth spread through his veins, radiating out from his breastbone, down his arms, and through his fingers. Slowly, Bobby withdrew his hands from the soil, and he could hardly believe his own eyes as the lines on his palm began to glow, lit up in gold. He turned his hands over to see the same golden color swim under his fingernails.
Links for Life in the Land:
DSP: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4109
Author Bio and Links:
Rebecca Cohen is a Brit abroad. Having swapped the Thames for the Rhine, she has left London behind and now lives with her husband and baby son in Basel, Switzerland. She can often be found with a pen in one hand and a cup of Darjeeling in the other.
Blog: http://rebeccacohenwrites.wordpress.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/R_Cohen_writes
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebecca.cohen.710
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