Sorchia's Universe

Researching Culture and Setting: Viking ships, Abbeys, and Enchanting Castles Like any novel[ist], I take my research seriously! A Hundred Breaths delves into the Norse culture and I was fortunate to tour an actual Viking ship, the Draken Harald Hårfagre , last year. When I heard this ship was coming to a port near us (Mystic, CT, and only an hour drive away), I messaged the captain and booked myself tickets. The researcher in me squealed with delight. The ship did not let me down. I asked questions, got to walk along the deck, and my sons got to “steer” with the steerboard. This ship was built as a fully working replica based on much research of Norse vessels. The crew was handpicked and sailed it cross the Atlantic Ocean. Exploring the vessel gave me a taste of what it must have been like to sail the ocean as a Viking. Gwyn and Simon’s journey in A Hundred Breaths also takes them to Dryburgh Abbey . I had loved Scotland for years, and in 2008, finally planned a visit there. One stop...

Alert!! You still have time to grab a free copy of Witchling: A Collection of Zoraida Grey Short Stories.  Offer Ends Feb. 28. This is it! The last two episodes of “A Cold Spring.” If you’d like to read “A Cold Spring” in its entirety, scroll down. Episode 25: Yesterday, Tomorrow, and Never Long ago, my great-great-great grandmother lived halfway up the mountains on the eastern border of Highmoor Province near the cataracts. In those nearly forgotten days, expectant mothers spent their confinement before bearing children in solitude, attended only by a trusted friend or relative. According to legend, she and her closest friend made their way to a cavern in the heights and settled in for the remaining weeks before my great-great-great-grandmother’s first child was to be born. While they waited for the baby, a violent storm rose. Intense rain flooded the cavern. My great-great-great granny and her friend fled to the upper levels and weathered the storm safely...

Looking for previous episodes? Start Here with a PDF of 1-18. Episode 23: Witches, Witches Everywhere Older relatives, slightly singed but maintaining an air of refinement, rest on tussocks near the river, enjoying quiet conversation. Their breaths puff into white vapor in the cool morning air. All in all, the scene is one of a pleasant outdoor celebration in full swing despite the occasional crash from the burning castle. The one common trait all witches share—no matter their politics––is adaptability. Even the musicians, looking a bit the worse for wear, have struck up a lively tune. Younger cousins dance and cavort on the fresh grass. The remains of New Castle Highmoor smolders in the background. A Darkmore cousin—one of the Dutch Darkmores, I believe––hands me a goblet of wine. “What a bash!” He shouts, green eyes blazing, blond hair positively standing on end. He’s more than a little buzzed despite the early hour. Then I remember that for him, it is still the crux of the evening...

Finding love can be like walking a tightrope By Addison Brae   While I was jogging in my neighborhood park right before Valentine’s Day a few years ago, I saw a guy walking on a tightrope. I always wondered how people learn how to walk on a tightrope. They practice. He tied a narrow nylon strap to two trees and walked on it between them. It reminded me how much dating is like walking a tightrope. So many girls, me included, want to believe a guy really feels something for us. They go through the act of it, but do they really? How do we walk the tightrope of real or not? How do we learn to see the signs and accept the truth? We practice. This was my first Valentine’s as a newly single (again) when I was going through the adjustments of shaking off a painful marriage and relearning what love’s all about. Those single years and experiences inspired Becker Circle . In many romance novels, at least one main character walks that tightrope of whether their romantic interest is into them or no...

If you want to read the whole story so far, Follow this link to Episodes 1-20 Episode21: Unexpected Discarding the light blanket Mayebelle has wrapped aroundme, I scrabble in the spring-damp mold of the forest floor. Pain in mymidsection redoubles, but I crawl to the edge of the road and use a handy rowansapling to hoist myself up. “Maddock!” I would have run to him, but little Priscillaor Madeleine or Jane will not be ignored. A contraction tightens like a band of iron across mystomach. The figure on the path is running now. Running toward us. My wombconvulses, and I’m sure I’m about to die. Mayebelle pulls me back to the warmthof the makeshift pallet of leaves and spare clothes and pushes me on my back. “It’s real, isn’t it, Mayebelle?” I can’t see past hersolid form and a nagging fear whispers to me, telling me the castle and Maddockare wishful visions only. “It has to be real this time.” Mayebelle glances over her shoulder. When she turnstoward me, her face is in shadow. “It’s rea...

A Crescent Creek Haunting by Viviana MacKade Every place has its heart, which is made from all of its people’s feelings, all of their lives. People make bricks and rocks come to life, turn houses in homes. Make them come alive. Which is why I’m sure every place has ghosts. Crescent Creek is a Contemporary Series, so you won’t find any ghost or supernatural thing happening there. It doesn’t mean Crescent Creek doesn’t have its own ghosts. It’s Florida, after all, and even if we are the Sunshine state, we have our fair share of dark, creepy stories (take a look at this page , which is a report of 24 creepy stories. Now, picture #4 is from Port St Lucie. My town. For real. I’m not happy about it.) Here’s Crescent Creek’s. ~*~ Crescent Creek is a quiet little town. Safe, well looked after, and loved by the local folks. Nice people, most of them. Even in the stories I told, trouble came to Crescent Creek, are never from within. But the old men, those whose great-great-grandparents were bo...

Looking for previous episodes? Scroll down for a PDF of Episodes 1-18.  Then follow right here every week as we reach the conclusion. “A Cold Spring” Episode 19: Something Witchy This Way Comes  Far to the east, a full moon rises behind glacier-encrusted mountains shimmering with the last red rays of the sunset. Unruly cataracts tumble from the heights, falling in a silver ribbon and exploding in white mist. A snaking blue line, the Whispering River runs from its ancient bed at the base of the mountains, past the foothills, and into Highmoor Valley. In a wide curve it skirts the valleys edge and plunges again down the incline Mayebelle and I have just ascended. I hear its cold waters leaping across colder stones.    A sweet scent of meadow grass and early spring wildflowers carried up the ridge on a cool, damp breeze cools the sweat on my forehead.  From the forest a chorus of spring frogs chirp and an owl glides past with a satiny whoosh. The shadow of the ridge stretches t...