Thomma Lyn Grindstaff is a lovely woman and talented author. Her book Heart's Chalice I fell in love with from page one. What would you do for love? How far would you go to be with the one you loved? How much would destroy your own body? Given a second chance at love, spinning through alternate realities, one woman will put herself through hell and back but in the end will it be worth it? This book really makes you open up your eyes and ask yourself what would do for the love of your life and how far would you go for the thought of forever? This book touched my heart and will definitely be read again and again.
Hi, everyone! I'm Thomma Lyn Grindstaff, and I'm here to talk about my novel Heart's Chalice, as well as to share some things with you about myself as a writer. It seems like I've always loved reading and writing. I learned to read when I was quite young, around three years old. Writing followed shortly thereafter. I recall writing my first story, about a family of rabbits, which I also illustrated. You could call that my first literary endeavor. I'd say that my parents still have that little story, written on computer paper, folded in half, and stapled. Throughout my childhood, adolescence, and young adult years, I wrote stories and honed my craft, but I was shy about sharing my work. Eventually, however, I came to want to write for a readership, and I set about developing my work for publication.
My taste in books varies all over the place. I love the classics, but I love many contemporary reads, as well. Here's a sampling of authors I enjoy: Madeleine L'Engle, Charlotte Bronte, Flannery O'Connor, William Styron, Carl Sagan, Charles Frazier, Ernest Hemingway, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Jodi Picoult, Amy Tan, Khaled Hosseini, Sherman Alexie, Neil Gaiman, and Haruki Murakami.
Heart's Chalice has been through three incarnations. At first, it was a quiet, contemplative story. It evolved into its current wild ride through successive rewritings. What can I say: the characters pushed me around. I was initially inspired to write Heart's Chalice because of the hikes my husband and I love to take in the mountains near where we live. The mountain forest is incomparably beautiful – magical, really – and it inspired in my mind a story of a first love that is thwarted by heartbreak and death, but in which the hero and heroine are able to come together because the strength of their love creates a portal through which they may reach each other from alternate realities. Heart's Chalice is a very intricate book, with regard to its characters, plot, and worldbuilding, so the total time elapsed from its beginning to the final revisions was approximately three years.
I loved writing Laurel, since it was a poignant experience to dwell in her point of view as she reconnects with Nate, her beloved, and gradually discovers what is happening to her and to them both. Nate was fun to write, too. He's a sweetheart, gentle and strong, and it warmed my heart to write from his point of view about his undying love and loyalty. Two other characters were especially enjoyable. And they're not even human. They're cats.
Heart's Chalice is a major genre buster. It's a paranormal romance. It's also magical realism. You could also describe it as dark, edgy women's fiction, and it even has elements of dark fantasy and suspense. First and foremost in writing Heart's Chalice, I sought to tell a good story, and in the case of this particular story, it wound up crossing genre boundaries. What's more, Heart's Chalice differs from many other paranormal stories in its treatment of psychic phenomena. Several of my characters have second sight, including my heroine, Laurel. In Heart's Chalice, second sight is subject to misinterpretation, just like ordinary, everyday perception. Characters have visions and sometimes they have premonitions, but they don't necessarily know what those visions mean. One of Laurel's favorite sayings is, “Second sight isn't an exact science.”
Music played a major role in the writing of Heart's Chalice, and it's also important to the story. Laurel, my heroine, is a classically-trained pianist and Professor of Piano at her local university. I, too, am a classically-trained pianist, and I compose songs and instrumental pieces. Some of my original songs appear by name in the novel. Along with my mountain hikes, my love of music served as fuel to inspire the story.
My current work-in-progress is called Maestro. It's a time-travel romance, and I'm having a wonderful time with it. I'm already drooling over my hero, an acclaimed concert pianist, and that's a very good sign.
Links where we can purchase your book.
Amazon's Kindle Store: http://www.amazon.com/Hearts-Chalice-ebook/dp/B005WMLLFE/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318999435&sr=1-3-fkmr0
Barnes & Noble Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hearts-chalice-thomma-grindstaff/1106736612?ean=2940013301184&itm=4&usri=22thomma%2bgrindstaff22
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Please include a blurb of the book:
Destiny rarely gives a woman a second chance at love, especially not with a man who died twenty years ago. Laurel is pulled to an alternate reality where her beloved still lives. She desperately wants to remain, but every shift between realities damages her body further, and her soon-to-be-ex will stop at nothing to shackle her to a life she despises.
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