It’s a small world sometimes, and my blog post today really underscores
that fact! I recently connected with
today’s featured author, Diana Rubino, and as it turns out, we have a lot more
in common other than the fact that we both write novels. We share an interest in the paranormal as
well, and incorporate it into our writing, along with romantic elements. Our recent novels, both out this summer, are published
by the same press. Diana saw a blog post
of mine on the Old Haunted Jail on Cape Cod, and discovered yet another
exciting coincidence—both our new releases have scenes based on a Ghost Tour of
Barnstable that starts and ends at the Old Jail! I’m sharing her book’s blurb today, along
with an author interview. Links to
retailers can be found at the bottom of the page as well.
DARK BREW
A time travel romance
Learn from the past or forever be doomed to repeat it.
Accused
of her husband’s murder, druid Kylah McKinley travels back through time to her
past life in 1324 Ireland and brings the true killer to justice.
Two months of hell change Kylah’s life forever. On her many past
life regressions, she returns to 14th century Ireland as Alice
Kyteler, a druid moneylender falsely accused of murdering her husband. Kylah’s
life mirrors Alice’s in one tragic event after another—she finds her husband
sprawled on the floor, cold, blue, with no pulse. Evidence points to her, and
police arrest her for his murder. Kylah and Alice shared another twist of
fate—they fell in love with the man who believed in them. As Kylah prepares for
her trial and fights to maintain her innocence, she must learn from her past or
forever be doomed to repeat it.
An interview with Diana about Dark Brew
Where did the story come
from?
The
story took 12 years from start to finish. I’m a longtime member of the Richard
III Society, and in the spring of 2004, I
read an article in The Ricardian Register
by Pamela Butler, about Alice Kyteler, who lived in Kilkenny, Ireland in 1324,
and faced witchcraft charges. After her trial and acquittal, she vanished from
the annals of history. I couldn't resist writing a book about her.
How did you decide to make it a paranormal?
I’m a believer in
reincarnation, and I go on paranormal investigations whenever I can. I’ve gone
on several past life regressions. Cape Cod has a lot of history and paranormal
activity. I’ve been on many ghost walks and ghost hunts there. I wanted to
connect Alice in the past with someone in the present, her reincarnation.
Was Alice Kyteler famous in 14th century
Ireland?
Not at all but she was the richest woman in Kilkenny,
and for that reason the villagers hated her, especially the men. They accused
her of killing her first husband, but she was acquitted. Then they accused her
of killing her fourth husband, John LePoer, with witchcraft, the accusations
more absurd than those of the 1692 witch hysteria in Salem, Massachusetts.
Chancellor Edward de Burgh arrested Alice because her stepsons claimed she had
murdered John by
casting a witch’s spell with malefecia…and she used the enchanted skull
of a beheaded thief as her cauldron. She
went to trial and her dear friend Michael Artson had her acquitted, but she
vanished into the annals of history. According to legend, she went to England.
But no one knows for sure.
Why did you make it a time
travel?
Because my heroine, Kylah
McKinley, is a druid and has done many past life regressions, she knows she’s
the reincarnation of Alice. So she has to go back and find out what happened to
Alice, because too many weird things are happening to her in this life that
parallel Alice’s life.
Kylah lives on my beloved
Cape Cod. She’s a druid, a ghost hunter and owns a new age store in a restored
Revolutionary War-era tavern. She was also the target of a hit-and-run. Another
hit-and-run crippled her husband Ted. That’s no coincidence—she’s convinced
someone’s out to get them both. She
brews an ancient Druid herb mixture, goes
back in time and enters Alice’s life to find out exactly what happened and who
killed her husband.
These two months of hell change her life forever. Kylah’s life
mirrors Alice’s in one tragic event after another—she finds her husband
sprawled on the floor, cold, blue, with no pulse. Evidence points to her, and
police arrest her for his murder. Kylah and Alice shared another twist of
fate—they fell in love with the man who believed in them. As Kylah prepares for
her trial and fights to maintain her innocence, she must learn from her past or
she’s doomed to repeat it.
Have you ever
spoken to Pamela Butler, who wrote the article about Alice?
Yes, we’ve corresponded. She lives in New Mexico, so we’ve never
met in person. I asked Pam what inspired her to write about Alice. I’d never heard of Alice
until I read her article, “Witchcraft & Heresy. She replied:
“You asked why I wrote about Alice Kyteler, who
preceded Richard by a century-and-a-half. I only wrote it because others on the
listserv encouraged me to write about witchcraft, a subject about which I knew
very little. I ordered three books from Amazon.com on the subjects of
witchcraft, heresy, Satanism, etc. for research reasons. That was my basis,
plus I searched the Internet. The Malleus
Malleficarum was published in 1487, just two years after Richard's death,
so it's almost contemporary. I chanced across Alice in this reading and
thought that it was an interesting case. Witch burning was fairly rare in
Ireland, and wasn't as bad in England at that time as it had been on the
Continent. I wish that the M.M. had never been published; still, the fact that
it was published and accepted may reveal the mindset of those times.”
Purchase Dark Brew
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