Good afternoon, Marcia. Let's remind my readers where you live.
I live in San Diego with my husband Joe. All my stories have San Diego settings.
Does your current book, Sumerland, differ from
your previous books? Why and how?
Sumerland is a departure from my Theo Hunter Mystery Series. Sumerland was inspired by a
true story, childhood events, and the oral history handed down from my
grandmother who’s past was shrouded in secrets and shadows. For that
reason, Sumerland is written
under my real name, not my “Loren Zahn” pseudonym.
What if the “not so” dearly departed could return from the other
side of the grave to make amends and right the wrongs they committed during
their lives on earth?
Francis and
Marie-Claire Liebersohn have unfinished business—they want someone to set the
record straight—eighty years after their deaths.
Kate Post just
inherited the old Liebersohn mansion—her estranged mother's bizarre bequest to
the daughter she rarely saw and barely knew. Kate doesn't want the house, nor
any reminder of her mother's abandonment. When an odd inscription on a slab of
concrete beside a garden pathway haunts her dreams and drives her back to the
old place, she decides that a period restoration will make for a quick sale.
But Kate's plans and the long-dead Liebersohns' scheme are about to collide.
The result will unhinge Kate's world, uncover haunting family secrets, and set
her on a mission to undo the wrongs that only she can set aright.
What prompted you to write
it?
Sumerland is a “ghost story” but, first and foremost, it is a family
fable. It is an homage to our ancestors and a declaration of hope that future
generations may learn from the mistakes of the past—and not repeat
them. Everything we are today has its beginnings in the lives of those who
came before us. In my own family, my grandmother’s estrangement from her
husband (my grandfather) resulted in a family split that lasted for
generations. Meeting my cousin Linda for the first time did not occur until
most of the players (our grandparents, my father, her mother) had passed away.
It would be 90 years after our grandparents’ separation that we would meet.
That is the story that became the catalyst for Sumerland.
Linda and I both wonder if Sumerland might
really be more fact than fiction. Grandmother Clara was a great storyteller.
Her tall tales about growing up in the back woods of Canada were
dark and pulsed with characters who were mired in misdeeds and
tragedy. I always believed her stories were fiction. Now, I’m not so sure. As a
child, it was grandmother’s voice that fueled that my imagination. She is
why I write today.
How long did it take you to write this book?
I’d have to say the
story is a culmination of a lifetime of memories. However, I didn’t put pen to
paper until early in 2016. Once I was able to connect with the germ of the
story, I completed the book in about ten months.
Do you have a favorite line
from the book?
The advice from Kate’s
mother: “Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.”
Is it published and, if so,
when and by whom?
Sumerland was published by Grey Castle Publishing, my own publishing
company.
How can my readers get a copy?
Sumerland is available
on Amazon.com: http://smarturl.it/sumerland
What is your advice to
would-be writers?
That’s easy: Don’t give up. Keep at it.
What’s next for you?
I began the third book
in the Theo Hunter Mysteries, Fatal Little Lies, earlier this year.
I stopped work on it to write Sumerland. I hope to get back to it and
complete it by spring 2017. I'm also in the
process of converting my mystery books into audio books for Amazon. That has
been an exciting endeavor and I hope to complete that in 2017.
Thank you, Marcia. And all you out there--make sure you get this book and read it. You won't be sorry.
Quote of the Day: I cannot tell why this imagined despair has fallen upon me; the ghost of an ancient legend that will not let me be. Heinrich Heine, Lorelei
